Observers Say PBT Rules Will Not Preempt More Stringent State Laws

An environmental attorney and a former EPA chemicals chief say TSCA’s text and EPA’s own response to comments on its novel rules on five persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals show the rules cannot preempt state policies, opening the door for state regulators to set more stringent limits than the agency did. At least one state, New York, is already advancing a law that would limit use of one of the PBTs for which EPA enacted final rules earlier this...