The Chemical Safety Board cleared its backlog. The next two budgets proposed zero dollars.
Summary
In 2022 the CSB inherited 17 unfinished chemical-accident investigations, some dating to 2016. By December 2023 its 52-person staff had cleared every one — the most productive stretch in the agency's history. The White House's FY2026 and FY2027 budgets each then proposed $0 for the agency. Congress funded it anyway, at $14 million, with a new cap of three senior executives and an inspector general borrowed from the EPA.
The backlog
When CSB's chairperson resigned in July 2022, the agency handed new leadership a mess: 17 open investigations, some for accidents years in the past, with nothing published. Working through the rest of 2022 and all of 2023, CSB's staff — 52 full-time positions as of its FY2024 appropriation — issued six of the delayed reports before the year was out and the remaining eleven across 2023, including findings on the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery explosion, the LyondellBasell La Porte fatal release, and the Watson Grinding explosion in Houston. On December 27, 2023, CSB announced the last of the 17 reports had been issued — the highest volume of finished investigations the 28-year-old agency had ever produced in that short a stretch. Today CSB has seven active investigations, including a fatal coke-oven explosion at U.S. Steel's Clairton plant and a fatal tank collapse at a Washington paper mill — a normal caseload for an agency that had just proven it could clear one.
View data as table
| July 2022 | 17 | backlog when new leadership arrived |
|---|---|---|
| Dec. 2023 | 0 | backlog fully cleared |
| July 2026 | 7 | current active investigations |
The budget, twice zeroed
None of that turnaround changed the agency's line item. CSB ran on $14.4 million and 52 FTE in FY2024. For FY2026, the President's Budget proposed $0 — not a cut, an elimination — with instructions for CSB to spend its $844,145 emergency fund winding the agency down rather than investigating anything. Congress disagreed: on January 23, 2026, H.R. 6938 — the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026 — became Public Law 119-74, funding CSB's "Salaries and Expenses" at $14,000,000. The same provision that saved the agency also shrank its independence: CSB is now capped at three career Senior Executive Service positions, and its inspector general is no longer its own — the job now belongs automatically to whoever holds the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General post, who is barred from hiring any CSB-dedicated oversight staff. Weeks later, CSB's own FY2027 budget request disclosed that the President's Budget again "proposes to eliminate funding" for the agency — the same $0 ask, a second year running.
View data as table
| FY2024 enacted | $14.4M | 52 FTE, per CSB's own budget justification |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 request | $0 | proposed elimination |
| FY2026 enacted | $14.0M | H.R. 6938 / P.L. 119-74 |
| FY2027 request | $0 | proposed elimination, again |
The takeaway
- The agency wasn't failing when it was targeted. CSB cleared a backlog dating to 2016 in the eighteen months before its first zero-dollar budget request — its best production stretch in 28 years of operation.
- "Saved" came with strings. Congress restored the money but not the independence: a three-executive cap and an -shared inspector general are now written into law alongside the $14 million.
- The ask wasn't a one-time budget move. CSB's own FY2027 submission shows the White House proposing $0 again, a second consecutive year, regardless of the FY2026 outcome.
Budget figures are CSB's own appropriated "Salaries and Expenses" totals as reported in its Congressional Budget Justifications and in the enacted appropriations text; they exclude the separate $844,145 no-year emergency fund. The 52- staffing figure is CSB's own reported level under its FY2024 appropriation, the most recent figure the agency has published in a budget justification.
Sources
- U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) — 2025 Congressional Budget Justification — the source for the 17-report backlog history, the report-by-report timeline, the FY2024 enacted budget ($14.4M) and staffing level (52 ). csb.gov
- CSB — press release, U.S. Chemical Safety Board Eliminates Long-Standing Investigation Backlog (Dec. 27, 2023) — confirms the date the 17-report backlog was fully cleared. csb.gov
- CSB — 2026 Budget Request — the source for the President's Budget's $0 FY2026 request and the $844,145 emergency closure fund. csb.gov
- CSB — 2027 Budget Request — confirms the President's Budget again proposed $0 for CSB in FY2027. csb.gov
- CSB — current investigations list — the source for the seven active investigations as of July 2026. csb.gov/investigations
- U.S. Congress — H.R. 6938, Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, 2026, enrolled bill text, enacted as Public Law 119-74 (signed Jan. 23, 2026) — the source for the $14,000,000 FY2026 enacted appropriation and the three-SES-position / shared--inspector-general provisions. congress.gov
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The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is a 52-person agency with a single job: when a refinery, chemical plant, or gas well blows up, CSB sends investigators to find out why and tell the country before it happens again. It has no power to fine anyone or write regulation — only to investigate and publish. In 2022 it was also, by its own account, failing at that one job: 17 investigations sat unfinished, the oldest dating to 2016. It fixed that. The President's Budget then proposed paying for the agency with zero dollars — twice.