The US Congress has intervened to save the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) – an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents and developing recommendations to prevent their recurrence.
The White House had proposed shutting down the CSB and eliminating its $14 million (£10 million) budget by October 2025, the official start of financial year 2026. The administration had argued that the agency ‘duplicates substantial capabilities’ in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha). Yet many close observers maintain the CSB, which has a unique and non-regulatory role investigating chemical plant incidents, produces reports and recommendations that are a valuable resource.
Now, a funding bill for 2026 that Congress passed and President Trump signed into law on 23 January maintains CSB funding at $14 million for the remainder of this financial year. This bill also thwarted devastating cuts requested by the Trump administration to key research funders like the National Science Foundation. Other appropriations bills that Trump signed into law as part of a ‘minibus’ spending package on 23 January also spared key science agencies from steep budget cuts that the president had proposed.
Since a 43-day US government shutdown ended in November 2025, the CSB – like most federal agencies – had been operating under a continuing resolution that maintained funding at last year’s level. A 30 January deadline was looming to avoid another government shutdown.
‘Congress showed excellent judgement in saving the CSB from the White House’s efforts to kill it,’ states David Michaels, a former administrator of the Osha and an environmental and occupational health researcher at George Washington University. ‘CSB provides a tremendously important service to American industry, workers and the public,’ Michaels continues. ‘After explosions, fires or chemical releases, CSB investigates and tries to determine the root causes of what are often catastrophic events in order to prevent future ones from occurring.’ The agency’s findings have led to major safety improvements across many industries and have undoubtedly prevented events that would have killed or injured large numbers of people, he adds.
Daniel Horowitz, who formerly served as the CSB’s managing director and is now the legislative department director for the American Federation of Government Employees that represents CSB employees, agrees. ‘It’s definitely a positive development that both sides in Congress continued to fund the CSB at a similar level to last year,’ he tells Chemistry World. ‘Despite longstanding funding constraints, there’s no doubt that the CSB’s investigations and outreach have saved many lives over the years and prevented needless destruction and damage to businesses and communities.’
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