The Trump administration is reported to be moving to roll back parts of a federal system intended to prevent chemical disasters such as fire and explosions at more than 12,500 high risk facilities across the US.
The Guardian reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Response Management Program (RMP) requires facilities to develop protocols designed to prevent catastrophes or limit fallout, and to protect workers, first responders and fence line communities.
The news outlet said a rule finalized in 2024 strengthened protections, after 12 years of development, and that chemical industry representatives in early 2025 asked the incoming Trump EPA to undo it, citing cost concerns.
It also reported that the EPA eliminated a public website that informed communities and first responders which chemicals are in use at facilities, and that the White House targeted the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which reviews accidents and develops actions to avoid a repeat.
The Guardian wrote that the US experienced a chemical accident that harmed humans or the environment every other day on average between 2004 and 2025.
It cited incidents including a Clairton, Pennsylvania steel plant explosion that injured 10 and a Roseland, Louisiana oil facility explosion that caused oil to splatter onto homes as far as 20 miles away.
Marc Boom, a former EPA policy advisor and senior director with the Environmental Protection Network, said: “These standards exist because catastrophic explosions and toxic releases are not theoretical risks – they are real events that devastate communities.
“About 180 million people live within several miles of a plant covered by the rules, and dozens have been killed in recent years.”
An EPA spokesperson said: “The proposed revisions maintain all core accident prevention protections while eliminating duplicative, contradictory, or unproven requirements that add cost and confusion without improving safety results.”
The Guardian reported that the 2024 rule includes requirements for newer technology intended to prevent disasters, backup measures if a first line of defense fails and replacing hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives.
Examples cited included kill switches accessible to employees and automatic shut offs that would activate if a worker was incapacitated.
The news outlet also said the 2024 updates require planning for “double disasters” when hurricanes, earthquakes or wildfires hit a chemical facility.
It referenced Hurricane Harvey in 2017, reporting that flooding shut down refrigeration units at the Arkema chemical plant, leading to an explosion, an evacuation around the plant and injuries to first responders who were not warned of the toxic fumes they would be encountering.
The Guardian reported that the 2024 rule, which has not yet been fully implemented, increased worker involvement through consultation with workers and unions in emergency response planning, stop work authority, emergency response training and a mechanism to report unaddressed hazards.
Emma Cheuse, an attorney with Earthjustice legal non profit, said: “The new Trump proposal erases most of those requirements.
“These are common sense measures and yet they want to take them out completely.”
Rick Engler, a former EPA Chemical Safety Board member and labor advocate who founded the New Jersey Work Environment Council, said: “This administration … fundamentally does not care about workers or that so many facilities have had catastrophic events that sometimes lead to mass layoffs and closures.”
The news outlet reported that the administration took down a public data tool that mapped hazardous facilities and listed the chemicals used at each site, and that the EPA moved it to a reading room at one of its offices citing national security concerns.
Boom said: “This fits into the broader pattern.
“They’re taking actions that are putting more people at risk … and we’re seeing across the board, but this is particularly egregious.”
The Guardian also described the RMP as a program approved by Congress in 1990 under a Clean Air Act revision following deadly chemical facility accidents across the globe.
