U.S. — An analysis by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) indicates a 57% increase in accidents involving dangerous chemical releases between 2021 and 2025, rising from 83 to 131 incidents. During the same period, injuries or deaths from chemical accidents increased from 60 to 89.

This analysis comes as the Trump administration proposed weakening the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Risk Management Program rules in 2025. The EPA accepted public comments on the proposed rules until early May. An EPA spokesperson stated that the agency is reviewing public comments and aims to finalize the rule in late 2026. The spokesperson also indicated that the agency's proposal relies on an analysis of RMP-reportable incidents between 2014 and 2023, which showed accidental releases declined during that period.

Jeff Ruch, Senior Counsel at PEER, noted the declining infrastructure. "With each passing year the risk gets greater because the infrastructure continues to age," Ruch said. He challenged the EPA's conclusion regarding prevention plans, saying, "The conclusion that any decline is due to industry prevention plans is a supposition which the current EPA does not have the data to support."

The Biden administration's strengthened Risk Management Program rules, finalized in 2024, require analyses of safer alternatives, independent reviews of accident root causes, worker participation in accident-prevention plans, and preparations for climate change adaptation. The EPA spokesperson attributed the decline in incidents between 2014 and 2023 to successful prevention programs already in place, stating, "This means that RMP-regulated facilities had successful prevention programs in place before the Biden EPA finalized its nonsensical and burdensome 2024 rule."

Chemical Safety Board (CSB) incident reports show over 650 accidents occurred between April 2020 and May 2026. Of these, 103 accidents resulted in fatalities, 355 caused injuries, and 314 led to substantial property damage. Ronald Koopman, a physicist, expressed concern regarding proximity to facilities, saying, "It's just unconscionable to allow people to live so close to these refineries."

Nearly 150 million people reside within three miles of facilities regulated by the EPA's Risk Management Program. There are 12,000 such facilities that use hazardous substances under the Clean Air Act. The EPA removed a public data tool last year that was designed to inform communities about nearby risks. In 2019, a federal judge ruled that communities are entitled to information about hazardous chemical releases in their vicinity. PEER and other organizations filed a lawsuit to compel the Chemical Safety Board to disclose industrial chemical releases. In 2019, PEER petitioned the EPA to ban hydrogen fluoride, which the EPA refused to consider.