Government operations and workforce

Executive Order 13650: Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security

President: Barack Obama

Ordered agencies to coordinate chemical safety and security, improve community planning, share data and modernize regulations after major accidents.

Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13650 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13650 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13650 do?

EO 13650 followed the West, Texas fertilizer explosion and other incidents. It created a DHS-Labor-EPA working group to improve emergency planning, federal coordination, information sharing, policy and stakeholder practices. The group produced a 2014 action plan and later status reports. OSHA still identifies the order in its process-safety work, although individual rules and security programs have changed over time.

Administration position: The order did not itself impose a new permit or safety standard on every facility; binding duties arise from statutes, regulations and valid agency actions.
SignedAugust 1, 2013
Co-leadsDHS Labor and EPA
Federal action planMay 2014

Before and after

Before the order

Separate safety, environmental and security programs held overlapping facility data and used inconsistent coordination practices.

After the order

Agencies created shared plans, improved local emergency-planning support and reviewed major regulatory programs.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Interagency working groupCoordinate programs and dataContinuing in evolved form
OSHA and EPAReview and administer safety rulesContinuing
DHS and CISAAdminister applicable chemical-security functionsSubject to current statutory authority

What happened next

EO 13650 issued.