US chemical accidents rising as Trump rolls back protections, report finds

The number of US chemical accidents is rising just as the Trump administration guts protections against the disasters, a new analysis of federal data by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) non-profit found.The report found the number of chemical accidents, explosions, fires and other emergencies that release chemicals into the atmosphere was up by at least 51% since 2021. Deaths and injuries were up at least 20%.The report comes on the heels of two high-profile emergencies, including a malfunctioning chemical tank in Garden Grove, California, which caused the evacuation of more than 40,000 residents. The recent collapse of another chemical tank at a plant in Longview, Washington, killed 11 workers.Under the Clean Air Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s response management program (RMP) requires more than 12,500 high-risk facilities to develop protocols to prevent catastrophes, or limit fallout, and was largely designed to protect workers, first responders and fence-line communities.The Biden administration strengthened the protections in 2024, but, despite the increase in disasters and two high-profile emergencies, the Trump administration is pressing on with its controversial plans to dismantle the federal disaster management system.The Nippon paper mill in Longview, Washington, where 11 people died in a chemical spill in May. Photograph: David Ryder/ReutersThe Trump administration’s action amid the increase in accidents was “simply appalling”, said Tim Whitehouse, Peer’s executive director, and a former EPA enforcement attorney.“Like our public infrastructure, America’s industrial infrastructure is ageing, making disastrous failures increasingly likely,” Whitehouse added. “Serious chemical accidents are becoming an almost daily occurrence.”Peer obtained the data after it sued in 2017 to compel the government to track the data, as the Clean Air Act requires. It shows industrial accidents resulting in chemical releases grew from 83 in 2021 to 131 in 2025, according to reports filed with the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Accidents involving injuries or fatalities rose from 60 to 89 during the same period, up from 73 in 2024.The figures are probably an undercount, said Jeff Ruch, senior counsel with Peer, because it only includes chemical releases into the atmosphere. Plants that simply “poison their workers inside” a plant would not be counted, Ruch added.Another estimate found the US experienced a chemical accident that harmed humans or the environment every other day on average between 2004 and 2025.Among other requirements, the law the Trump administration is targeting mandates that facilities take protective steps such as installing technology that detects chemical releases; installing fire suppression systems’; and developing a personnel plan for how each employee at the facility is to respond to an emergency.The updated 2024 rules require hazardous facilities to put in place newer technology that would prevent disasters, put in place backup measures in case a first line of defense fails, and replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. Measures could include kill switches easily accessible to employees, or automatic shut-offs that would kick in if a worker was incapacitated.The new rules also require facilities to develop plans for dealing with “double disasters” that occur when hurricanes, earthquakes or wildfires hit a chemical facility, as happened with Hurricane Harvey in Houston in 2017.The flooded plant of the French chemical maker Arkema after Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. Photograph: Adrees Latif/ReutersThe Trump EPA already eliminated a public website that informs communities and first responders which chemicals are in use at facilities, and is aiming to undo most of the 2024 update to the law. The White House has also targeted the Chemical Safety Board, which reviews accidents and develops plans to avoid a repeat, by eliminating its $14m budget.The CSB is a non-regulatory board, but industry adopts about 90% of its safety recommendations, Ruch said. He added that the administration “wants to take credit for eliminating another agency” despite the CSB being highly effective for a low cost.The new Peer report highlights the need for stronger regulations, said Marc Boom, a former EPA policy adviser and senior director with the Environmental Protection Network. The administration is shifting the chemical disasters’ risks from chemical companies on to people who live and work near the facilities, he said.“This report makes plain what communities, workers and first responders already know: chemical disasters are happening far too often, and are too often undercounted,” Boom said. “Many are preventable, but instead of strengthening safeguards, this EPA is trying to weaken the rules designed to stop them.”There is little that can be done right now to stop the Trump administration from shredding protections, because it is proposing new rules under the rule-making process, which will probably be finalized by fall, Ruch said.About 40% of Americans live within three miles of at least one of the more than 12,000 high‑risk chemical facilities in the US.“You better hope you’re lucky in that there’s no proactive effort to make sure that these ultra-dangerous facilities are operating safely,” Ruch said.