EDITORIAL: Fund board investigating Longview disaster
Shortly after 11 workers were killed at a pulp and paper mill in Longview, officials from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced they were launching an investigation into the tragedy. The problem, however, is that the Trump administration would prefer to eliminate the board.
On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved an amendment introduced by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, to fully fund the Chemical Safety Board. The full House and the Senate should recognize the agency's importance throughout the budgeting process.
The CSB is not the only government body looking into the conditions that led to the implosion of a 900,000-gallon tank of white liquor at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging plant. But any shortcuts in the investigation limit our nation's ability to prevent future disasters, protect industrial workers and hold companies accountable when necessary.
Most important, anything less than a full examination violates the memory of those who died.
Instead, the Trump administration has long worked to reduce or eliminate the board. The budget proposal from the White House would cut the budget by approximately 40 percent.
The Chemical Safety Board was created in 1990 through amendments to the Clear Air Act. It has a budget of approximately $14 million and fewer than 50 employees for an independent, nonregulatory body that advocates for public safety when serious chemical incidents occur.
The White House argues that the CSB duplicates work pursued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and that its elimination would shrink the federal government.
That is a worthy goal, but the board's budget equals 0.0002 percent of the federal budget. Put another way, $14 million in savings would account for approximately 4 1/2 minutes worth of the federal deficit.
As Jordan Barab, a former deputy assistant secretary at OSHA, explained to the Associated Press, other agencies determine whether companies violated existing regulations. The Chemical Safety Board has a different approach: "They can look at other problems, other causes that aren't necessarily covered by regulations or standards."
American history is filled with tragedies that have triggered improvements. A 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed 146 garment workers and led to changes in building codes and labor laws. And a 1942 fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston killed 492 people and led to changes we now take for granted: Public doors must open toward the outside, and revolving doors must have adjacent alternative exits.
The Longview tragedy does not match the scope of those long-ago fires, and there is no telling whether fixable errors will be discovered. But there is something to be learned from every disaster.
As Najmedin Meshkati, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Southern California, told The Seattle Times: "If we don't learn from Longview, how could we ensure the public that another Longview would not happen in the future?"
There is value in trying to prevent that.
As Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said: "I hope this will be a wake-up call to my Republican colleagues - funding CSB is about keeping our families safe and ensuring there will be answers and accountability in tragedies like this."
We hope that members of Congress are paying attention.
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