New Chemical Safety Board Head

Open Email to Rep Issa and Sen. Imhofe:

Dear Rep Issa and Sen. Imhofe,
Although the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has done much good work over many years, it has been in political turmoil for the last few years.
The CSB, is an independent U.S. federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. It exists for the advice and by the consent of Congress. It has no power to regulate. Board members are nominated by the President but must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As an independent agency, the CSB is independent of Presidential control; i.e. the President has no power to dismiss the agency head or a board member. This effectively means the CAB is under the control of Congress. For the House of Representatives, it is you,Rep Issa, and for the Senate, it is you, Sen. Imhofe.
The fact that the CSB has been in political turmoil for the last several years is a result of your inadequate control. However, you now have an opportunity to properly do your job.
The March 9 issue of Chemical and Engineering News has two articles on the CSB.
The article on page 31 concerns Board Chairman Moure Eraso leaving the Board, when his 5-year term expires in June.
To replace Moure Eraso, the article on page 8 concerns Pres. Obama's probable nomination of Vanessa Sutherland, a Department of Transportation lawyer, to become the next chair of the CSB. I suppose the fact that Vanessa Sutherland is a black woman is irrelevant. Instead, we will concentrate on the fact that she is a trained lawyer, presumably with insignificant background concerning industrial chemical operations. Her current job is handling legal, policy, regulatory, and enforcement issues affecting companies to transport hazardous materials. Sounds like an appropriate job for a lawyer. Prior to that, she was concerned with the tobacco industry as senior counsel to Altria Client Services and Philip Morris. Before that, she held various legal roles in the telecommunications industry. Again, notice a complete absence of any education or experience with respect to industrial chemical and mechanical processes, which she would supervise as a new head of CSB.
Compared to Vanessa Sutherland, Moure Eraso has a better background of experience, albeit not very good. He holds undergraduate and graduate degree in engineering from Bucknell University, which is significant. His masters and doctorate in environmental health from the University of Cincinnati were only partially helpful at the CSB.  He was a university professor for 23 years, which gave him no experience in management nor any practical experience in working with industrial chemical and mechanical operations. In addition, he developed into a political animal, with which his inability to manage resulted in CSB turmoil.
Rep.Issa and Sen. Imhofe, as I said previously, you now have an opportunity recover at least partially from your ineptitude in previously handling the CSB.
The first thing to do is to advise Pres. Obama that you will reject the nomination of Vanessa Sutherland, because she is unqualified. While you can then go on to request additional nominations from Pres. Obama, I believe you will be more effective in finding your own candidates from the chemical industry. I'm sure there are many qualified engineers with managerial experience, either recently retired are about to be retired who would like to do some good for their country. After appointing a properly qualified person, you must continue to exercise oversight to see that your choice has been justified and that the CSB is then running smoothly to do a competent job, as it did many years earlier.