LOS ANGELES — On April 10, three California environmental justice organizations and the United Steel Workers filed a motion to intervene in an industry lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. The interveners fear that in the drive to rollback the Barack Obama administration era protections, the Donald Trump administration’s Justice Department will do little to defend federal agency they’ve already vowed to drastically cut.
The environmental justice interveners include California Communities Against Toxics, Clean Air Council, Coalition for a Safe Environment, Community In-Power & Development Association, Del Amo Action Committee, United Steel, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union and AFL/CIO among others.
The lawsuit filed by the American Chemistry Council, a trade group representing the interest of American chemical companies, seeks a review of the EPA’s rule entitled “Accidental Release Prevention Requirements: Risk Management Programs Under the Clean Air Act.”
This rule was the first major update to the prevention requirements of the EPA’s chemical Risk Management Program in more than 20 years, adding significant protections for vulnerable communities.
On April 17, 2013, a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas destroyed homes and a school, killing 15 people including first responders. In response, the EPA developed important amendments to the safety rules for facilities that use or store large amounts of very dangerous chemicals that will help protect first responders and communities.
Oral arguments for this suit as of the publishing of this story has not been set.