Biden nominates Stephen Owens to lead Chemical Safety Board
Washington — President Joe Biden has nominated Chemical Safety Board member Stephen Owens to serve as the agency’s chair and CEO.
If confirmed, Owens would serve a five-year term. Katherine Lemos, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, officially stepped down from the post July 22 after announcing her resignation in June.
Owens, along with Sylvia Johnson, was sworn in as a board member on Feb. 2. The Senate confirmed their nominations in December.
Before joining CSB, Owens was a Phoenix-area attorney focused on environmental, health and safety issues. Prior to that, he was an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. He also served as director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
Owens’ nomination has been referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)