Featured - TSCA

Industry, Conservatives Urge EPA To Reduce Methylene Chloride Rules’ Burden

Chemical manufacturers and a conservative foundation are pressing EPA in comments on a proposed renewal of data collection for the TSCA methylene chloride risk management rules to eliminate duplicative and overlapping federal workplace requirements for the chemical as well other cost burdens. The Conservative Political Action Coalition Foundation’s Center for Regulatory Freedom (CRF) “urges EPA to suspend implementation of the current” information collection request (ICR) for the two Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk management rules on methylene chloride “pending...

Auto Workers Deem TSCA New-Chemicals Review Rule Unlawfully Opaque

The United Auto Workers (UAW) is arguing that the Biden-era TSCA framework rule intended to align EPA’s procedures for evaluating risks associated with new-chemical applications is unlawfully opaque, keeping unions and their representatives out of the process, and that EPA failed to respond to unions’ comments on how to address the issue. UAW says in its opening brief in consolidated litigation known as Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) et al. v. EPA that it “joined with other Unions...

Soap Makers’ Group Presses Senators To Address New Chemical SNURs

Cleaning product manufacturers are calling on key members of the Senate environment committee to make “targeted changes to TSCA” to address what they describe as onerous restrictions EPA places on new chemicals, which their trade group argues limits their marketability. The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) in an Oct. 23 letter submitted to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and its chemical safety subcommittee raises longstanding industry complaints about the slow pace of...

Draft TSCA Framework’s Questions Raise Legal ‘Logical Outgrowth’ Concerns

The Trump EPA’s decision to ask numerous questions about -- rather than provide definitions for -- key TSCA terms in its proposed changes to the framework rule for TSCA risk evaluations of existing chemicals is raising concerns that a final rule could be open to legal challenge under the administrative law doctrine known as “logical outgrowth.” Attorneys during an Oct. 14 webinar hosted by the law firm Wiley questioned whether a final rule could be vulnerable to legal challenge if...

OCSPP Integrates 170 ORD Scientists In ‘Final’ Reorganization, Deklava Says

EPA’s reorganization of the chemicals office has gone “final,” a top official says, resulting in the integration of more than 170 scientists from the research office who are expected to bolster the office’s efforts to clear a backlog of TSCA new chemical reviews as well as other Trump administration priorities for the office. The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention’s (OCSPP) “reorganization was final on Sunday [Oct. 19]. I’m pretty excited about that,” Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator of...

Trump EPA’s TSCA Reporting Rule Likely To Narrow Scope Of PFAS Data

The proposed TSCA reporting rule that cleared White House interagency review last week is likely to target a narrower scope of information on PFAS than the existing Biden-era rule, with a top Trump EPA official saying last week that looking for every “molecule” of PFAS is not a “realistic” approach. The fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required EPA to develop a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulation ordering manufacturers and importers to submit information on their per-...

Key Senate EPW Members Hint At Priorities For Bipartisan TSCA Talks

The chair and ranking member of the Senate environment committee’s chemicals panel are signaling a desire to work together to address concerns about consumer exposure to PFAS and other harmful chemicals in any TSCA reform push, though prospects for any legislation remain dim given partisan differences and other concerns. During the Oct. 23 hearing before the environment committee’s Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the ranking member, asked Tracey Woodruff, a...

New Chemicals Rule Unlawfully ‘Fast-Tracks’ PBTs, Environmentalists Say

The Biden-era framework rule intended to align EPA’s procedures for evaluating risks associated with new chemical applications violates TSCA because it unlawfully “fast-tracks” approval of some persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, resulting in harms to protected populations, environmentalists argue in their opening brief. “In promulgating the PBT Fast-Track Provision, 40 C.F.R. § 723.50(d)(2)(ii), EPA violates TSCA,” write environmental petitioners in their opening brief in consolidated litigation known as Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) et al. v. EPA ...

House Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Bipartisan TSCA Bill Prospects

Two members of a key House panel -- one Democrat, one Republican -- are raising concerns about a closing window to revise TSCA, noting that the shutdown and a toxic partisan relationship are creating more challenges to the effort, even as the Democrat says a bipartisan approach would provide the most enduring solution. Reps. Gary Palmer (R-AL), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subpanel, and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), a subcommittee member, made their remarks at the U.S...

8th Circuit Grants Indefinite Stay Of CTC Litigation As EPA ‘Reconsiders’ Rule

The 8th Circuit has agreed to EPA’s request for an indefinite abeyance of consolidated litigation over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out uses of the solvent carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) while the Trump administration “reconsiders” the rule, and in particular, its workplace exposure limits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued an Oct. 20 order granting EPA’s Sept. 12 request for an extended abeyance in litigation known as Olin Corp. et al. v. EPA . “The...

PCRM Seeks TSCA Changes To Reduce Animal Testing, Boost Transparency

An animal welfare group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), is seeking TSCA legislative changes to reduce animal testing and increase transparency about the animal tests EPA uses and orders, including a move that could align with industry and Republicans’ efforts to streamline EPA’s reviews of new chemicals. PCRM staff have spoken with congressional staff in recent weeks about their asks, following a Sept. 16 letter the group sent to chairmen and ranking members of the Senate environment committee...

Environmentalists Defend Push To Revoke FDA Phthalates Authorization

Environmentalists are defending their long-running push for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revoke its authorization of the use of phthalates as a food additive, part of a broader campaign to have EPA and other agencies clamp down on the widely used class of plasticizer chemicals. In an Oct. 15 reply brief , Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT) and other environmental and health groups argue that they have standing to sue over FDA’s denial of a petition seeking...

EPW Reschedules Chemical Regulation Hearing As House Nears TSCA Draft

The Senate environment committee has re-scheduled for next week its long-pending oversight hearing on chemicals regulation, which could offer insight into a bipartisan TSCA bill Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently reiterated the panel is crafting while House Republicans prepare to release a draft bill of their own. The Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) announced Oct. 16 that the panel’s chemical safety subcommittee, chaired by Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), will hold an Oct. 23 hearing titled, “Examining the Beneficial...

Industry Seeks More Time For D4 Comments Citing EPA Scope Changes

Industry groups are pressing EPA to extend the 60-day public comment on its recently proposed TSCA evaluation of the chemical known as D4, arguing EPA has inappropriately expanded the evaluation’s scope while its proposed changes to the TSCA risk evaluation framework rule further complicate the unique evaluation’s path forward. In Oct. 6 comments recently posted to EPA’s electronic docket, several companies led by the American Chemistry Council’s Silicones Environmental, Health and Safety Center (SEHSC) are urging the agency to extend...

Senate TSCA Bill Talks Remain ‘Very Preliminary’ As House Readies Draft

Senators are still in “very preliminary” talks on proposed legislative changes to TSCA, underscoring the slow progress on environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito’s (R-WV) goal of developing a bipartisan bill to address frustrations with how EPA has implemented the statute’s 2016 changes under a whipsaw of administrations. “There's just kind of active conversations . . . trying to . . . see what folks’ red lines are, and what their asks are,” one Democratic staffer tells Inside TSCA ...

EPA Seeks New Comments On TSCA CTC Rule To Aid Reconsideration

EPA has opened a new public comment period on the Biden-era TSCA carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) risk management rule to assist the agency as it “reconsiders” the rule and whether it should be revised, while seeking delays in ongoing legal challenge to the Biden-era rule in the 8th Circuit. The agency announced in an Oct. 9 Federal Register notice that it is opening a 30-day comment period on the CTC risk management rule, published in December 2024 under...

GOP Poised To Swiftly Confirm Troutman Over Democrats’ Stiff Opposition

Senate Republicans appear headed to confirm Doug Troutman to lead EPA’s chemicals office over strident objections from Democrats on the Senate environment committee due to Troutman’s industry ties, with the committee chairman also securing Troutman’s commitment to work with the committee on additional reforms to TSCA. In her opening remarks at Troutman’s Oct. 8 confirmation hearing, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, described Troutman as a “well-qualified nominee[],” adding that she supports his...

Industry Officials Debate Impact Of Trump EPA ‘Data Center’ Prioritization

Industry officials are debating whether the Trump EPA’s plan to prioritize reviews of new chemicals associated with the development of data centers will be able to make an impact on the agency’s long-backlogged TSCA pre-market review process, even as one law firm is offering pointers to companies on how to utilize the new pilot in applications. “Every administration does some prioritization exercise” with the TSCA new chemicals program, one industry source tells Inside TSCA in a recent interview. “This...

Peer Reviewers Urge Major Changes To TSCA Phthalate Drafts Despite Deadlines

EPA science advisors in a newly released peer review report are recommending multiple significant changes to improve the suite of draft TSCA phthalate analyses, including a novel cumulative analysis, while acknowledging that “many” of the committee’s recommendations will not be addressed because of EPA’s strict court-ordered deadlines. The Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals’ (SACC) Oct. 6 report praises EPA’s effort to consider cumulative risk but also questions the agency’s ability to assess the individual chemicals, which are used to make...

EPA Defends Biden PBT Rule Against Environmentalists’ Legal Challenge

The Trump EPA is defending the Biden-era TSCA rule on persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, arguing that it correctly met the law’s requirements as it pushes back on environmentalists’ and a tribe’s claims that the rule is unlawful because it fails to protect their members from exposure to a flame-retardant chemical. While the petitioners argue the rule failed to meet the Toxic Substances Control Act’s (TSCA) directive that EPA impose “all practicable measures” to reduce such exposures, the agency...

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