US chemical accidents rising as Trump rolls back protections, report finds

The GNK Aerospace chemical facility in California, which overheated in May, threatening a leak or explosion. Photograph: Apu Gomes/Getty Images View image in fullscreen The GNK Aerospace chemical facility in California, which overheated in May, threatening a leak or explosion. Photograph: Apu Gomes/Getty Images US chemical accidents rising as Trump rolls back protections, report finds Deaths and injuries up as critics condemn administration’s ‘appalling’ plan to gut federal disaster management system The number of US chemical accidents is rising just as the Trump administration guts protections against the disasters, a new analysis of federal data by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer) non-profit found. The report found the number of chemical accidents, explosions, fires and other emergencies that release chemicals into the atmosphere was up by at least 51% since 2021. Deaths and injuries were up at least 20%. The report comes on the heels of two high-profile emergencies, including a malfunctioning chemical tank in Garden Grove, California, which caused the evacuation of more than 40,000 residents. The recent collapse of another chemical tank at a plant in Longview, Washington, killed 11 workers. Under the Clean Air Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s response management program (RMP) requires more than 12,500 high-risk facilities to develop protocols to prevent catastrophes, or limit fallout, and was largely designed to protect workers, first responders and fence-line communities. The Biden administration strengthened the protections in 2024, but, despite the increase in disasters and two high-profile emergencies, the Trump administration is pressing on with its controversial plans to dismantle the federal disaster management system. View image in fullscreen The Nippon paper mill in Longview, Washington, where 11 people died in a chemical spill in May. Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters The Trump administration’s action amid the increase in accidents was “simply appalling”, said Tim Whitehouse, Peer’s executive director, and a former EPA enforcement attorney. “Like our public infrastructure, America’s industrial infrastructure is ageing, making disastrous failures increasingly likely,” Whitehouse added. “Serious chemical accidents are becoming an almost daily occurrence.” Peer obtained the data after it sued in 2017 to compel the government to track the data, as the Clean Air Act requires. It shows industrial accidents resulting in chemical releases grew from 83 in 2021 to 131 in 2025, according to reports filed with the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Accidents involving injuries or fatalities rose from 60 to 89 during the same period, up from 73 in 2024. The figures are probably an undercount, said Jeff Ruch, senior counsel with Peer, because it only includes chemical releases into the atmosphere. Plants that simply “poison their workers inside” a plant would not be counted, Ruch added. Another e