Washington — The 16-day government shutdown in October has reportedly delayed the Chemical Safety Board’s (CSB) ongoing investigation into the April 17 West Fertilizer ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas. A CSB spokesperson said a public hearing to present new findings of the agency’s investigation has been pushed back to early 2014 after originally being scheduled for Oct. 24. A multi-agency effort to implement new safety directives ordered by President Obama (GM Aug. 5, p. 1) has also been delayed by the shutdown, according to The Huffington Post. The executive order, issued on Aug. 1 and in response to the West tragedy, required federal agencies – including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – to develop a plan within 90 days that identified ways to ensure that state and local authorities and emergency responders “have ready access to key information in a useful format to prevent, prepare for, and respond to chemical incidents.” EPA told The Huffington Post that a working group comprised of individuals from those agencies will now report their progress in early December instead of on Oct. 31, as originally stated in the order. A number of public listening sessions on the directives were also delayed, with the first now scheduled for Nov. 5 in Texas City, Texas, and the second for Nov. 15 in Washington, D.C.
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