For almost a year, the three Board members and Board Chairman Dr. Paul Hill have disagreed as to how big a role Hill has to give the board in formulating policy and running the agency. The dispute brought agency advancement to a halt during most of November and December.

On December 17th, before the CSB Staff, Dr. Paul Hill announced his resignation as Chair of the Board and also his intention to maintain his position as a member of the Board. Check the CSB WEB site   for the latest press release.

Dr. Andrea Kidd-Taylor, named to the board in November 1998, told AcuSafe News that the “staff continues to do it’s job” and “press reports of a rudderless ship are unfounded. All eight current investigations are indeed active and will be brought to a conclusion given the current staff and funding.” There may even be resources enough to launch new investigations if the “circumstances warrant it,” according to Kidd-Taylor.

Board Background

The board was authorized under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 with a mandate to investigate chemical industry accidents "resulting in a fatality, serious injury or substantial property damage." The agency was modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates airplane and train crashes.

Congress delayed funding for years because of disputes over the chemical board's independence and wariness over creating a new federal bureaucracy, but relented in 1997 in part because of dissatisfaction over the Clinton administration's investigation of a 1995 chemical plant explosion in Lodi, NJ.

Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), the sharpest critic of the Lodi report, became the board's biggest champion. The Washington Post reported that he has described the board's current dilemma as "growing pains that must be worked through so it can continue its critical mission."

The board began work in 1998 with Hill as chairman and chief executive officer, and has produced three final accident reports.

Discord Reaches a Peak Around Thanksgiving

Hill left Washington, D.C., in mid November asking an employee to tell board members via e-mail that he was on live in West Virginia. The statement said Hill was delegating on-site authority to Phyllis Thompson, the agency's chief operating officer, in his absence.

Both Hill and his estranged board colleagues agree that friction began to crest early this year when newly arrived board members noticed that Hill and his chief operating officer, Phyllis Thompson, were making most agency decisions without consulting anyone else.

According to the Washington Post, Dr. Andrea Kidd-Taylor said, "my understanding was that we [board members] would have input, I saw that things were already in motion, but being new, I said okay."

In April of this year, Kidd-Taylor said Hill, without consulting anyone else, decided that the board would not undertake any new investigations, citing a shortage of funds. The agency currently has an $8 million budget and has eight investigations underway.

Meanwhile, the board asked the agency's general counsel to prepare a report outlining members' responsibilities. The document issued Aug. 30 said that while the chairman "plays the key role" in management and administration, the entire board "can exercise oversight" over key decisions on budget, resource allocation, and personnel. The report also acknowledged that the chairman and board members "will need to agree on their precise roles" to resolve key disputes in the division of labor and power.

On Oct. 29, Hill unilaterally requested a doubling of the budget, to $16 million in FY 2001, so the agency could open three regional offices and order a feasibility study for a laboratory. But on Nov. 5, the board voted to "direct the chairman" to retract the budget request pending a review by the entire panel. The final budget submission deadline is in February 2000 for FY 2001.

But the Board Goes On

Hill returned to Washington in early December. According to Dr. Kidd-Taylor, the Board members have agreed that they will abide by findings by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The enabling legislation does not give a great deal of guidance as to how the Board should operate. They have also agreed that the entire Board will review any submission to Congress with an opportunity for comment within 5 days prior to its submission.

The Board conducted what would normally have been a mundane public meeting in mid December under the Sunshine Act. Topics discussed at the meeting included: Implementation of various Board Directives, including the Board members request to withdraw the agency's preliminary budget request for fiscal year 2001, the status of the agency's on-going investigations, and the agency's annual reports to the President and Congress. Dr. Hill was conspicuously missing from the meeting.

Another “Sunshine in Government” open meeting of the Board is planned for January 10, 2000 where it is expected that an acting CSB Chair will be voted on until the President officially appoints one.