During the eight-year period the CSHIB was in limbo, 27 OCAW members died in oil and chemical industry explosions and fires from Feb. 1990-October 1997.
After intense lobbying from OCAW members of Congress and numerous social justice, environmental, religious, health and labor organizations, President Clinton decided not to veto funding for the Board.
OCAW was the driving force behind obtaining an appropriation for the board, since its inception in 1990 as part of the Clean Air Act amendments. Congress had decided to establish the investigative body within a year of explosions at a Phillips Petroleum plant in Texas and an Arco chemical refinery in Louisiana that killed 40 workers.
Congress set up the board to investigate, determine and report to the public on the "root causes" of chemical accidents resulting in death, serious injury or substantial property damage.
The board also is charged with issuing periodic reports to governmental bodies, agencies, and the public on its recommendations for reducing the likelihood and consequences of accidental releases and for improving the safety of chemical production, handling and storage processes.
It is an independent board in that its budget requests, legislative proposals, testimony and reports are not subject to review by any officer or agency prior to their submission to Congress.
The CSHIB has no regulatory authority and its findings, conclusions and recommendations cannot be used in litigation or as evidence.
In short, the CSHIB is modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that investigates plane accidents. The public and the airline industry take the NTSB's findings and recommendations seriously and heed its advice. The CSHIB is expected to be the same way.
Clinton appointed and confirmed three members to the CSHIB in 1994, including its chairman, Paul Hill, president of the National Institute for Chemical Studies in Charlestown, W. Va.
The Administration rescinded funding for the board in 1995 and never made an appropriation for it in 1996 or 1997.
Hill was basically a man with a mission, but with no funds to implement it.
The answer lies in government officials' belief that funding for the CSHIB was an example of overspending and Congressional excess. They thought money could be saved by forming a new joint EPA/OSHA program to investigate accidents and accomplish the job the CSHIB was set up to do.
In this vein, the White House sent letters to lawmakers at the end of Sept. stating, "The EPA/OSHA program has successfully investigated numerous accidents, disseminated alerts to industry, and prompted OSHA to consider changing its safety rule.
"Rather than creating a duplicative agency, the administration supports the EPA/OSHA program, which combines and improves upon existing agency efforts, as the most effective strategy to prevent accidents."
Around Workers' Memorial Day, the International sent fact sheets and press releases about the board to its locals and asked them to visit their Congressional delegations and contact the White House with stories of how CSHIB would help prevent catastrophes.
Workers circulated petitions at their workplaces and returned them to the International, which presented them at a meeting with the White House.
OCAW members also sent postcards and letters to the chair of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee.
Opponents of the joint EPA/OSHA program cited the organization's discretion to conduct "root cause" investigations; their mandate to focus on compliance with regulations; their con- fusion over which agency has authority to enter a plant; their excessively long lead time to issue accident reports and their allowance for industry review of those reports. Opponents also felt the EPA/OSHA would not be as forthcoming in their reports if the evidence indicated a lack of regulatory enforcement.
Key legislators who pushed for CSHIB funding included Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Byrd (D-WVA) and Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Robert Wise (D-WVA), George Miller (D- CA), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Jon Fox (R-PA).
Plus, we will have to fight next year to increase the $4 million appropriation for the board. In comparison, the NTSB receives a $45 million appropriation each year.