Shutdown Roils Agencies' Plant Safety Efforts, Key Accident Investigations

摘要

The partial government shutdown has crippled EPA and other agencies' efforts to better coordinate their programs for assessing and limiting risks from industrial facilities, as President Obama required in his recent executive order, as well as ongoing investigation and enforcement of industrial accidents, including the West, TX, fertilizer plant explosion.Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate environment committee, said Oct. 10 that the shutdown has halted the efforts of the inter-agency working group charged with implementing President Obama's Aug. 1 executive order on chemical safety and security.