A team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board arrived in Longview within a day last week to lead an investigation into the fatal chemical tank rupture that killed 11 people at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. paper mill last week.
But if President Donald Trump’s proposed budget is approved, funding for the federal agency’s work might run out before the investigation is complete.
FILE - Aerial views of the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in Longview, Wash., showing the scene of a chemical tank failure that occurred in the morning on May 26, 2026.
Brandon Swanson / OPB
U.S. Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez, who represents Southwest Washington in Congress, on Sunday called on the Trump administration to reconsider, and to instead fund the federal agency in charge of investigating chemical disasters.
“People want an unbiased, thorough investigation. They want safe jobs for people to come home at the end of the day and have real agency in how mill maintenance is organized and ordered,” Glusenkamp Perez said in a video posted to social media.
The horrifying loss of life in Longview last week demands a thorough impartial investigation conducted by the independent watchdog Chemical Safety Board.
— Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (@RepMGP) May 31, 2026
Unfortunately the presidents proposed budget has zeroed out the CSB budget.
Next week, I’ll be making it my priority to… pic.twitter.com/3SqbDSASWJ
“An important partner of this is the watchdog agency, the Chemical Safety Board. Unfortunately their budget was zeroed out by the president in his proposed budget,” she said. “Fortunately, this appropriations bill will be in my committee jurisdiction.”
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee, of which Glusenkamp Perez is a member, is set to discuss legislation that includes the agency’s funding on Wednesday.
Trump’s proposal, which would go into effect this October if his budget were approved by Congress, is the president’s sixth attempt to defund the CSB since he first took office in 2017, according to Safety and Health magazine. Separately, Republicans in Congress have proposed keeping the agency open but slashing its funds by more than 40%.
CSB, a small, nonregulatory independent federal agency, has a $14 million budget for the current fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.
The White House did not immediately respond to OPB’s request Sunday afternoon to comment on the investigation into the Longview mill disaster or Trump’s proposed cuts to the CSB.
According to the New York Times, the administration says the CSB duplicates work done by other agencies – including the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
But CSB staff, who also did not immediately respond to a Sunday afternoon request for comment, have pushed back against the Trump administration’s assertions about their agency, noting that theirs is the only federal agency that investigates chemical disasters.
Investigations generally run from six to 18 months, depending on complexity, but can take longer.
With funding only guaranteed through the end of September, that could affect the current attempt to understand what caused a 900,000-gallon tank of caustic paper-making chemicals known as “white liquor” to rupture, killing and injuring workers and leading to an environmental clean-up that’s still under way.
OPB was not able to reach Nippon Dynawave on Sunday for a comment on how cuts to CSB funding might affect the Longview mill’s future. Brian Wood, director of support services for the company and also a city councilor in neighboring Kelso, has previously said the company is “cooperating fully” with investigators.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.
Courtesy of Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez
He’s defended the mill’s safety record in press conferences, though some family members of the 11 victims of the chemical disaster have raised concerns about its safety culture.
The CSB is theoretically run by a five-member board appointed to five-year terms by the president, and confirmed by the Senate. However, Trump has opted not to fill three open seats. That’s left the agency with only two people at its helm, both nominated by former President Joe Biden.
Glusenkamp Perez said she wants to fill those open seats.
“My hope is that we’re able to work with the administration to ensure that people with real trades experience are appointed to that board – not a discussion of just lab conditions and a chemical engineering degree, but an understanding that mill conditions are not lab conditions, people who have done that work, whose lives are at risk are on that board as well, are steering the investigation,” she said.
