This month, U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, introduced the Chemical Safety Board Accountability Act, which is aimed at ensuring open board seats on the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) are filled in a timely manner by qualified candidates who have experience working in mills or other trades settings, according to a news release.
The CSB is an independent watchdog tasked with investigating chemical incidents, including the incident at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview that killed 11 men, and making recommendations for safety improvements.
The Clean Air Act (CAA) states that the CSB’s governing body must consist of five members, including a chairperson nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Currently, the board only has two members, and there is no indication of a plan to fill the empty seats. With two board members, the CSB can continue to carry out its statutory responsibilities, but a reduction to a single member could constrain the board’s ability to fulfill its mission. Under the CAA, there is no mechanism requiring empty board seats be filled and new board members are only required to be “technically and professionally qualified.” The bill introduced by Gluesenkamp Perez would amend the CAA to ensure board seats are filled quickly and by members with real experience working in the trades.
Specifically, this legislation would:
• Amend the CAA to ensure that at least one board member of the Chemical Safety Board has substantial experience in the trades.
• Require that the president must fill vacancies within 90 days if a vacancy arises or a term expires.
• Ensure that if the president fails to nominate someone within 90 days, they must submit a report to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that includes the reasons why the president did not submit a nomination and a plan to submit a nomination within the next 90 days. They must repeat this until they submit a nomination.
“When it comes to worker safety, we need a system that prioritizes people with actual skin in the game. Lab conditions aren’t mill conditions and ensuring that people investigating incidents and making recommendations on rules changes have real experience in the trades will help increase confidence in findings and usefulness of the recommendations,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in the release. “Since coming to Congress, ensuring working people have a seat at the table when rules are made has been a priority for me — and this is a step in the right direction.”
