“I am grateful that these exceptional individuals have chosen to dedicate their talents to serving the American people,” Obama said. “I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead.”
Moure-Eraso currently serves as a professor and graduate coordinator for the Department of Work Environment in the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he has been chair of the department for the last 5 years. In 1994-95, he held an intergovernmental personnel assignment at the U.S. Department of Labor as a special senior advisor on the prevention of chemical exposures to the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. He worked for 15 years as an industrial hygienist engineer and has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) and the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Mark Griffon is the founder of Creative Pollution Solutions Inc., which provides environmental and occupational health consulting including management and technical oversight of large remediation projects, waste site characterization, radiation surveys, health and safety and health physics audits and investigations and exposure assessment research. He has served as a member of the Federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health from 2002 to the present. He previously worked in the private sector as a project manager for chemical waste management.
“President Obama has nominated two exceptionally qualified individuals who will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Chemical Safety Board,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee. “Since the Chemical Safety Board has a number of important cases they are currently investigating, Dr. Moure-Eraso and Mr. Griffon deserve to receive speedy consideration by the Senate.”
Bresland to Step Down
In a statement following Obama’s announcement of the nominations, CSB Chairman John Bresland said he planned to step down from position of chairman and CEO once a new chairman is commissioned. He will serve out the remainder of his 5-year term, which ends in March 2013, as a board member.
Bresland was appointed to CSB in 2002. He was re-nominated and named chairman by President George W. Bush in 2007 and confirmed by the Senate in March 2008.
“With two board member positions currently vacant and due to be filled, it seems appropriate that the new administration should also have the opportunity to select the chairman. In that spirit, I will continue in office until a new chairman is appointed,” Bresland said.
“The Chemical Safety Board continues to make important recommendations in the arena of chemical process safety,” he added. “I am very proud of the expertise and dedication of the Chemical Safety Board staff and board members and I look forward to continuing to work with them on a daily basis. I also look forward to fulfilling the rest of my term as a board member in full support of the new chairman.”