Wikipedia

Katherine Lemos

Katherine Andrea Lemos is an American safety professional and the former chairperson and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

Katherine Andrea Lemos
Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
In office
April 23, 2020 – July 22, 2022
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byVanessa Allen Sutherland
Kristen Kulinowski (acting)[1]
Succeeded bySteve Owens
Personal details
Born1967–1968
CitizenshipUnited States
SpouseCarlos Lemos[2]
Alma materBelmont University (B.B.A., 1988)
California Lutheran University (M.S., 1992)
University of Iowa (Ph.D., 2002)

Early life

edit

Katherine Lemos was born to John Curtis and Laura Curtis.[2] Her father was a United States Air Force and Air National Guard pilot and a commercial airline pilot.[2] Lemos started flight lessons at the age of fourteen, at which time her father required her to read National Transportation Safety Board publications to learn about aviation safety and accidents.[2]

Lemos earned a B.B.A. in business management from Belmont University, a M.S. in behavioral counseling from California Lutheran University, and a Ph.D. in social psychology from University of Iowa.[3][4] She also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Iowa Operator Performance Laboratory and as a NASA Faculty Fellow at Langley Research Center.[5]

Lemos is a pilot and certified flight instructor.[4]

Career

edit

Prior to her appointment to CSB, Lemos worked at Northrop Grumman from 2014 to 2020, serving as the company's director of autonomy and director of programs for the aerospace sector.[6] She had previously worked as a technical leader and program manager for aviation safety at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an accident investigator and later Special Assistant to Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Transportation Safety Board.[3][7][8] She had also held academic positions at University of Maryland and Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica.[9]

Lemos has specialized in system safety, accident investigation, and human factors.[1][4] At the time she was nominated to CSB, she had no experience in chemical manufacturing or refinery operations, fields which fall under the purview of CSB investigation.[4]

Chemical Safety Board

edit

Katherine Lemos was nominated by President Donald Trump to be a member of CSB on June 13, 2019.[3][10] On July 22, she was nominated by President Trump to serve concurrent five-year appointments as chairperson and CEO of CSB.[3][11][12] At the time, the CSB's five-seat board had only three members,[13] one of whom would leave in December 2019.[2] The problem of vacancies in the CSB board was noted by a May 2019 Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General report to be detrimental to CSB's ability to function effectively.[13][14]

 
Katherine Lemos at Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing

A hearing on her nomination was held by the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in September 2019.[2] Lemos received bipartisan support from committee members during her nomination.[4] Her appointment was confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent on March 23, 2020.[12][15] Senator John Barrasso said "it was critical the Senate confirm Dr. Lemos to provide a working quorum to the board";[16] at the time of Lemos's confirmation, the CSB board had only one member, Kristen Kulinowski,[17][6] and only eight investigators.[18] She began her tenure on April 23, 2020.[3]

Four days after Lemos's term began, Kulinowski announced that she would resign from CSB on May 1, ending the CSB's brief quorum.[19] At this time, CSB had ten unfilled investigator positions.[20] Thereafter, Lemos declared that she could operate as a "quorum of one", citing a legal opinion from the CSB general counsel allowing her to unilaterally run the CSB.[21] A July 2020 Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General report concluded that it remained an open question whether a single CSB board member may constitute a quorum, as doing so would impair the segregation of duties mandated by the Government Accountability Office.[21][22]

In May 2021, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility criticized Lemos for accruing $33,000 in travel expenses and $20,000 in office renovations, and for hiring a senior advisor from Northrop Grumman for an undisclosed salary.[23][24]

In a September 2021 hearing before the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Lemos testified that the CSB is "on an upward trend".[25][26] She said that she intended to expand the staff of CSB to 61 people by September 2023.[18]

In September 2021, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved the nominations of three new board members of the CSB,[25] and in December 2021, two members were confirmed, Steve Owens and Sylvia Johnson. Once seated on the board in February 2022, Owens and Johnson openly disagreed with changes Lemos approved to a board order, which resulted in an expansion of the chairperson's authority. They attempted a procedural vote to make further changes to the order, but Lemos tabled the vote for a public meeting, which ultimately did not occur due to her resignation.[24]

Lemos submitted her letter of resignation to the White House in June 2022, citing lost confidence in the board's focus on the agency's mission. Her resignation became effective on July 22, 2022.[27]

In June 2023, the EPA Inspector General released a report stating that Lemos violated federal regulations for her use of board funds for travel, office refurbishment, and media training, but did not violate restrictions placed by a continuing resolution and did not violate regulations for the hiring of senior aides.[28][29] Senator Chuck Grassley wrote a letter to Lemos requesting that she repay the money indicated as improperly spent in the report.[30]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Statement from Board Member Dr. Kristen Kulinowski as Senate Confirms Dr. Katherine Lemos to Chair of the Chemical Safety Board". www.csb.gov. United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. 2020-03-24. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "S.Hrg. 116-95 — Hearing on the nominations of Aurelia Skipwith to be Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Katherine Lemos to be Member and Chairperson of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board". www.congress.gov. United States Congress. 2019-09-11. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Chairperson Dr. Lemos". www.csb.gov. United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Archived from the original on 2021-12-28. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  4. ^ a b c d e Johnson, Jeff (2019-09-12). "CSB nominee Katherine Lemos sails through confirmation hearing". Chemical & Engineering News. Vol. 97, no. 36. American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  5. ^ "OPL Team". iti.uiowa.edu. Iowa Technology Institute - The University of Iowa. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  6. ^ a b "Senate Confirms New CSB Chairperson Katherine Lemos". www.aiha.org. American Industrial Hygiene Association. 2020-04-02. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  7. ^ "Katherine Lemos". www.aiche.org. American Institute of Chemical Engineers. 2020-09-15. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  8. ^ "Statement from Dr. Lemos, New Chairperson and CEO of the U.S. CSB". inspectioneering.com. Inspectioneering. 2020-04-23. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  9. ^ "Biography – Dra. Katherine Andrea Lemos" (PDF). www.aer.ita.br. Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica. November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-09. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  10. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts". trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov. Executive Office of the President of the United States. 2019-06-13. Archived from the original on 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  11. ^ "Three Nominations Sent to the Senate". trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov. Executive Office of the President of the United States. 2019-07-22. Archived from the original on 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  12. ^ a b "Senate Confirms Katherine Lemos to Head Chemical Safety Board". www.ttnews.com. Transport Topics. 2020-03-27. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  13. ^ a b "Trump to nominate Lemos to short-staffed Chemical Safety Board". Safety+Health. National Safety Council. 2019-06-21. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  14. ^ Fiscal Year 2019 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Management Challenges (PDF) (Report). United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General. May 20, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  15. ^ "PN971 - Nomination of Katherine Andrea Lemos for Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". www.congress.gov. United States Congress. 2020-03-23. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  16. ^ "Senate Confirms Katherine Lemos to Chair Chemical Safety Board". www.epw.senate.gov. United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  17. ^ "Senate confirms Katherine Lemos as CSB chair". Safety+Health. National Safety Council. 2020-03-25. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  18. ^ a b Johnson, Jeff (2021-10-06). "Chemical Safety Board head quizzed by skeptical US Congress members". Chemical & Engineering News. Vol. 99, no. 37. American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  19. ^ Hussein, Fatima (2020-04-27). "Chemical Safety Board Member's Departure Ends Short-Lived Quorum". Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg Industry Group. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  20. ^ Johnson, Jeff (2020-05-04). "US Chemical Safety Board remains short-staffed". Chemical & Engineering News. Vol. 98, no. web. American Chemical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  21. ^ a b Natter, Ari; Levin, Alan (2020-08-07). "Safety Agency Trump Wants Shut Moves Ahead with 'Quorum of One'". Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg Industry Group. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  22. ^ Lewis, Eric; von Hoyer, Andre (2020-07-06). Fiscal Year 2020 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Management Challenges (PDF) (Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  23. ^ "Chemical Safety Board Chair's Spending Spree – On Herself". PEER.org. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 2021-05-11. Archived from the original on 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  24. ^ a b Frazin, Rachel (2022-06-17). "Inside the contentious Trump-Biden appointee fight on the chemical safety board". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  25. ^ a b "'We're on an upward trend,' Chemical Safety Board chair tells House subcommittee". Safety+Health. National Safety Council. 2021-10-11. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  26. ^ "Hearing on "Protecting Communities from Industrial Accidents: Revitalizing the Chemical Safety Board"". energycommerce.house.gov. United States House Energy and Commerce Committee. 2021-09-29. Archived from the original on 2021-12-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
  27. ^ Natter, Ari (2022-06-11). "US Chemical Safety Board Chair Resigns Citing Lost Confidence". Bloomberg. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
  28. ^ Report of Investigation: Katherine A. Lemos, Former Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (PDF) (Report). United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2023-06-28. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  29. ^ Daly, Matthew (2023-06-29). "Ex-chemical safety agency chief misused $90K on trips, renovations and other expenses, watchdog says". Associated Press News. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  30. ^ "Grassley Seeks Accountability for EPA Official who Wasted Nearly $100k on Travel, Décor". grassley.senate.gov. United States Senate. 2023-08-04. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiki.x.io/w/index.php?title=Katherine_Lemos&oldid=1255477361"