WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed a fiscal year 2002 spending bill that provides the embattled Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), which investigates chemical and petrochemical accidents, with $300,000 in additional funding. The increase, although relatively small, is a victory for CSB, which has struggled to survive since it was created in 1990.
The money was included in the FY ’02 appropriations bill for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD) (H.R. 2620), which President Bush signed into law on November 26. The bill provides CSB with a total of $7.8 million, the largest appropriation it has received since its creation as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
CSB’s primary responsibility is to investigate chemical accidents in much the same way that the National Transportation Safety Board investigates airplane and train accidents. However, it has never had full funding, and has never reached its full potential. Many Members of Congress now realize that, in light of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the responsibilities and resources of the CSB must be strengthened.
