Chemical Disasters Impact Us, and so Does Chemical Safety Board Funding: Frontline Communities Demand Protection of the CSB
Houston, TX- Today, Fenceline Watch, alongside more than 85 communities living on the frontline of chemical disasters, indigenous communities, elected officials, and environmental advocates, have signed a letter urging Congress to fully fund the U.S. Chemical Hazard and Safety Investigation Board as the agency faces potential elimination.
Approximately 131 million Americans live within three miles of an industrial facility that processes or stores highly toxic chemicals. Despite the risk of nearly half of the US population living near such sensitive infrastructure, the current administration has slated for the only independent federal agency that investigates chemical disasters that result in catastrophic harm, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), to cease operations in 2026.
Since its establishment, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has investigated nearly 200 chemical disasters and issued over 1000 safety recommendations. These recommendations have increased the safety of workers and communities living alongside petrochemical, oil, gas, and pipeline infrastructure.
The Chemical Safety Board is a federally funded agency that has received strong bipartisan support from impacted communities, industry associations, and taxpayers. With the looming reopening of the government, it is critical that Congress votes to fully fund the CSB’s budget. The House’s current proposal slashes CSB funding nearly in half, from $14 million to $8 million. The Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget proposal excludes funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, signaling plans to eliminate the agency by next year.
These cuts will affect the regulation of Risk Management Plan (RMP) facilities, a designation given by the U.S. EPA to particularly dangerous facilities. According to the EPA, of the 131 million people living within three miles of an RMP facility, approximately 20 million identify as Black or African American, 32 million identify as Hispanic or Latino, and 44 million earn less than or equal to twice the poverty level. The Greater Houston Area contains more than 600 chemical facilities, of which 251 are RMP facilities. These petrochemical plants, oil and gas refineries, and pipeline infrastructure border homes, schools, places of worship, and parks. Without CSB recommendations to inform safer practices, the threat of chemical disasters occurring in our communities is never a question of “if” but “when”.
In 2025, 19 chemical disasters occurred in Texas, six of which occurred in our communities along the Houston Ship Channel, resulting in injuries and mandatory shelter-in-place orders. Chemical disasters pose a significant threat to our lives, both during and after these events. We experience vomiting, loss of consciousness, skin burns, organ failure, damage to reproductive systems, other health harms, and in the most severe cases, death. The harm we shoulder extends beyond our lifetimes and is passed on to our children and future generations. The effects manifest in mutagenic harm, low birth weights, delayed development, and neurological damage. We are left with irreversible damage to our bodies, families, environment, and our futures.
We stand united across the country, calling for the preservation of the U.S. Chemical Hazard and Safety Investigation Board. Our elected Congresspeople must support the CSB’s full funding and continued operation.
