“The Chemical Safety Board barely survived the Trump war of attrition against it,” said Jeff Ruch, a top official at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group of current and former public employees. The watchdog group had sharply criticized Lemos and repeatedly called for her ouster.
The inspector general’s report “underlines that it is difficult for a federal agency, especially a small agency, to function when it is saddled with leadership that is inimical to its mission,” Ruch said in an email.
