Chemical Hazards Rise, Analysis Shows, As Trump Administration Proposes Weakening Safety Rules

Physicist Ronald Koopman appeared at a meeting of the Southern California Air District in 2018 to talk about what seemed like an arcane science topic: hydrofluoric acid dissolution and water reduction experiments.

Hydrofluoric acid, also known as hydrogen fluoride or HF, is used to make a range of things, including refrigerants, gasoline, fluorine-based pesticides and fluoropolymers such as those used to make Teflon. It is also one of the most corrosive and dangerous chemicals known. Koopman conducted tests on the chemical in the 1980s that warned of the potential for fatal accidents in facilities using hazardous materials.

With the Trump administration poised to roll back regulations meant to protect workers and communities from catastrophic industrial chemical releases, and new analyzes showing rising rates of chemical accidents, Koopman’s presentation on the most dangerous substances has taken on a new urgency.

The number of accidents involving the release of hazardous chemicals increased 57 percent between 2021 and 2025, from 83 to 131, according to a study released Monday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit that works with former government officials.

Injuries or deaths from accidents also increased, from 60 to 89 over the same five-year period, the analysis found. Incident reports released by the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), an independent agency that investigates chemical accidents, show that more than 650 accidents occurred between April 2020 and May 2026, 103 resulting in deaths, 355 injuries and 314 causing “major property damage.”

About 150 million people live within 3 kilometers of these places. Historically underserved and disadvantaged populations, including people who identify as Black and Latino, are at greater risk of exposure to accidental evictions.

Most refineries were built before 1985, the analysis notes. “Every year the risk becomes greater because the infrastructure continues to age,” said Jeff Ruch, senior consultant at PEER.

The 1980 HF tests were conducted by Koopman, who now runs Hazard Analysis Consulting, on behalf of the oil company Amoco (later acquired by BP) to understand how the highly toxic refining chemical would perform in a spill.

The test was a “remarkable success” in showing what was possible and how big the problem could be, Koopman said at the air district meeting. When they released 1,000 gallons of the hazardous chemical, they expected it to accumulate on the ground and release a small amount of gas. Instead, a “moving” fog arose, allowing the deadly gas to travel miles downstream, much farther than anyone thought possible.

Years later, after a fiery explosion at a hydrofluoric-acid facility at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery rocked the South Philadelphia neighborhood in 2019, Koopman told NPR, “it doesn’t make sense” to allow people to live near these refineries.

The accident released more than 5,000 chemicals. A Black and brown neighborhood in South Philadelphia was spared due to “favorable weather conditions,” CSB said.

“We tried and failed to persuade the EPA to release hydrogen fluoride from these refineries,” Ruch said. “Refineries are close to human settlements, and the release of gas can be a serious disaster.”

Exposure to 170 parts per million of hydrogen fluoride for 10 minutes can cause death or serious injury.

After the massive explosion at the Philadelphia refinery, PEER asked the EPA to ban hydrogen fluoride in 2019. The agency declined to consider the request.

Nearly 50 refineries use hydrogen fluoride and have reported more than 200 accidents resulting in serious injury and death to the EPA in the past 25 years, according to the nonprofit Public Health Watch. Refineries represent just a fraction of the 12,000 facilities that use certain hazardous materials and are regulated by the EPA’s Risk Management Program under the Clean Air Act.

The new statistics released by PEER were made public because of a lawsuit PEER and other groups filed to force the Chemical Safety Board to disclose industrial chemical emissions as required by the Clean Air Act. A federal judge in 2019 ruled that communities have a right to know what hazardous chemicals are being released nearby.

Yet Trump’s EPA eliminated a public data tool designed to alert communities to imminent dangers last year. President Trump also tried to defund the Chemical Safety Board, even though Congress has continued to fund the agency.

Earlier this year, the administration proposed to significantly weaken the RMP rules finalized in 2024 to “reduce the regulatory burden” and accept public comment on the rules until early May.

The Biden administration’s strengthened RMP rules require several measures to reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents, including the analysis of safe alternatives, independent analysis of the causes of accidents, employee participation in accident prevention programs and preparations for adapting to climate change.

An EPA spokeswoman said the agency is reviewing public comments and continues to work to finalize the rule by late 2026.

“EPA’s proposal is based on a rigorous analysis of RMP’s reported emissions between 2014 and 2023, which shows that accidental emissions have clearly decreased over that period,” the spokesperson said. “This means that RMP-regulated facilities have effective prevention programs in place before the Biden EPA finalizes its unreasonable and burdensome 2024 rule.”

The Biden EPA used the same data and reached the opposite conclusion, said PEER’s Ruch. And, he added, “the conclusion that any decline is due to industry prevention programs is an assumption that the current EPA has no data to support.”

Meanwhile, chemical accidents that lead to evacuations, injuries or multiple injuries continue to occur at least once a week.

“Every year the risk becomes greater because the infrastructure continues to age,” said Ruch. At the same time, he added, “the organization’s response to it is diminishing.”