President Trump’s proposed budget would eliminate funding for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which is now investigating the Nippon Dynawave disaster in Longview.
WASHINGTON — An amendment brought by U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez would reverse President Donald Trump’s proposed defunding of a regulatory agency now in charge of investigating the deadly spill of caustic chemicals at a Longview paper mill.
The congresswoman from Washington’s 3rd District said in a statement Wednesday that the House Appropriations Committee had adopted her amendment adding over $5 million to fully fund the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency which investigates major incidents involving hazardous chemicals.
CSB announced last week that it had opened an investigation after a 900,000-gallon tank of white liquor ruptured at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Longview. The spill ultimately killed 11 workers and injured several more, and the mill remains largely shut down as cleanup of the site continues.
White liquor is a caustic chemical used in the papermaking process to break down wood chips, with an alkalinity on par with bleach.
Authorities have not provided any explanation for the cause of the rupture, and the CSB investigation is one of several now underway to determine the circumstances of the incident.
“The thing that’s really clear to me, from the conversations I’m having, is that families and workers deserve answers,” said Gluesenkamp Perez. “They need to know what happened here, and that in the future someone will be looking out for them so they make it home safe every night. The CSB is an important part of that, and they need the resources to do their job properly.”
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Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposed eliminating funding for the CSB, Gluesenkamp Perez’s office said, and not for the first time. The president’s 2026 budget also called for the wholesale elimination of CSB’s funding.
A House version of the 2026 budget would have funded the CSB at $8.2 million, but the Senate later increased that amount to $14 million.
Under the Gluesenkamp Perez amendment, CSB’s budget would remain flat at $14 million for the upcoming budget.
The Trump budget proposal for 2027 was released in early April and predates the Longview disaster, but the CSB’s records show that it’s completed three investigations to date this year and launched two more, not including Nippon Dynawave. All but one of the five incidents resulted in deaths.
According to the CSB’s own brief 2027 budget request, Trump’s proposal to eliminate the agency’s funding is “part of the Administration’s plans to streamline functions across government.”
