A federal watchdog said the former head of a US safety agency that investigates major industrial accidents improperly charged the government tens of thousands of dollars in travel and office furnishing expenses. a report announced Thursday.
Katherine Lemos, who served as chair of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board from 2020 through July of last year, charged the government nearly $50,000 in airfare and other costs for travel from her residence in San Diego to the Safety Board headquarters in Washington, D.C. Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General concluded. Lemos also billed the government for a trip to Norfolk to attend an aircraft carrier launch, the report said, adding that the expense was in violation of federal travel regulations.
In addition, Lemos, who was nominated to chair the board by then-President Donald Trump, spent more than $22,000 remodeling her office at the Council of Safety headquarters in Washington — more than four times the $5,000 limit — according to the inspector general. Among the purchases: $4,340 for red “chili” leather upholstery of two lounge chairs with matching footstools. The report added documentation for one of the purchase orders, stating that it “appears to have been designed to hide the truth,” the furniture was for Lemos’ office.
In response to a request for comment, Lemos provided a June 15 letter from her attorney to the inspector general that said the agency had ignored exculpatory evidence and “refuses to credit Dr. Lemos’ interpretations.”
The inspector general’s report said that Lemos, through her attorney, did not agree with the report’s conclusions and “confirmed that she relied on the advice of CSC personnel with respect to reimbursement of the expenses in question.”
The board, which has investigated incidents ranging from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion of BP Plc, to a chemical spill that contaminated the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of West Virginians, was proposed for removal By Trump who argued that the group’s focus on regulation has “frustrated both regulators and the industry”.