From Inside TSCA

Study Says Asbestos May Escape Burial Sites, Broadening Exposures

A recent study says “millions of people” living near asbestos-contaminated sites could be more exposed to the toxic fibers than was previously known, based on new findings that it can migrate to groundwater even after being buried and covered with a soil “cap” -- a common method of cleaning up the material at Superfund and other waste sites. “People have this idea that asbestos is all covered up and taken care of,” Jane Willenbring, an associate professor of geological sciences...

Regan Weighs Need For New Tools To Address Cumulative Chemical Effects

EPA Administrator Michael Regan is holding “conversations” within the agency on whether officials have the tools and authorities it needs to adequately address the cumulative impacts of exposures to toxic chemicals and other forms of pollution, a key concern in environmental justice (EJ) communities. “I'm in conversations right now with my general counsel and . . . the experts here in the agency to determine if we have all the tools we need to adequately address cumulative . . ...

EPA Plans Expanded TRI Mandates For ‘Priority’ TSCA Chemicals, EtO

EPA is planning to subject a host of new chemicals and facilities to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements, including all chemicals on the TSCA “high-priority” list and Obama-era workplan, as well as requiring some previously exempt facilities that work with ethylene oxide (EtO) to participate in the program. The agency announced a swath of TRI updates in an April 29 press release , framing them as advancing the Biden administration’s environmental justice (EJ) agenda by bolstering information on...

Biden Nominates Three CSB Members, Seeking To End ‘Quorum Of One’

President Joe Biden has named three nominees to the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) including former EPA chemicals-office chief Steve Owens, after environmental, labor and industry groups as well as the agency’s own inspector general warned that the panel cannot continue to operate with a single member. Biden announced on April 28 that he intends to nominate Owens, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) scientist Jennifer Sass and Sylvia Johnson, a former labor union safety official who now serves...

EPA Will Seek HBCD Evaluation Remand In Early Marker For TSCA Agenda

EPA intends to seek voluntary remand of the Trump-era TSCA evaluation of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and other flame retardants in order to reconsider its findings that some of their uses pose no unreasonable risks, in what could be the Biden administration’s first concrete step to tighten findings in some of the agency’ first 10 assessments. In an April 23 motion to stay briefing in Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT), et al., v. EPA , agency lawyers write that based on...

SOCMA Seeks To Preserve Key Trump-Era TSCA ‘Wins’ Under Biden EPA

The specialty chemicals industry plans a broad lobbying push aimed at preserving Trump-era policy “wins” for the sector, with top priorities including EPA’s framework for chemical reviews, its TSCA fee structure and facility-safety mandates -- though a key official admits the effort will be an uphill battle. Robert Helminiak, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates’ (SOCMA) vice president of legal and government relations, used an April 22 webinar hosted by the group to outline several “significant” shifts in policy...

Researchers Say EPA Undercounted Methylene Chloride Deaths, Urge Ban

A newly published analysis says EPA’s TSCA evaluation of methylene chloride undercounted deaths from exposure to products made with the chemical by almost 40 percent if not more, prompting calls from the report’s authors as well as environmental groups for the agency to ban use of the solvent. The April 19 analysis , conducted by researchers at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the University of California San Francisco, finds evidence of 85 deaths associated with methylene chloride...

EPA Urged To Use ‘Hierarchy Of Controls’ To Protect Workers Under TSCA

As EPA looks to tighten its TSCA worker-safety requirements, labor and environmental groups are urging officials not to focus their actions solely on personal protective equipment (PPE) and instead to use a “hierarchy of controls” (HOC) model that prioritizes safeguards like chemical substitutions and treats PPE as a last resort. Several groups are touting the HOC approach in response to acting EPA chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff’s recent announcement that the agency would no longer assume that workers will always wear...

EPA Nears Settlement In Litigation Over CDR Asbestos Reporting Mandate

States, environmental groups and EPA will use an April 15 court date to ask a federal district judge for “guidance” on a potential settlement in the suit over the agency’s Trump-era refusal to add asbestos to the TSCA Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) program, in the latest signal that a deal could be imminent. A joint April 8 motion from all sides in the consolidated cases Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) et al. v. EPA and State of California et...

Environmentalists Press EPA For More Reforms To New Chemical Reviews

Environmentalists are pressing EPA to expand on its recent moves to tighten TSCA controls on new chemicals, such as through broader analysis of “plausible” future uses, additional toxicity testing and more aggressive enforcement, while also defending the agency’s early reforms against attacks from industry groups. In an April 7 letter to acting agency chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff, five environmental groups praise her reversals of two Trump-era policies that limited the scope of Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) enforcement orders in...

EPA Reworks PFBS Assessment It Scrapped Over ‘Political Interference’

EPA has issued a revised version of a Trump-era toxicity assessment for a closely watched perfluorinated chemical, taking a first step to rework an analysis that officials had scrapped after finding that it violated the agency’s science integrity policy because of “political interference” in the scientific process. EPA April 8 released ­new assessment of perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) -- one of thousands of known per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that the Biden administration has vowed to address -- arguing that...

CSB Announces Plan To Rework Board Operations, Boost Investigators

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which investigates releases of hazardous or toxic chemicals and other industrial incidents, will soon be drawing up a new board order as recommended by EPA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG), which oversees CSB, while increasing the ranks of its investigators. Chairwoman Katherine Lemos, who is currently the only sitting member of the board and acting as a one-person quorum, announced the new efforts during an April 2 public meeting, where she noted the management...

EPA Readying SACC Appointments Based On 2020 Nomination Cycle

EPA is preparing to appoint new members to its Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) “in the near future” based on nominations it received in 2020, continuing the Biden administration’s effort to quickly rebalance agency advisory panels after EPA dismissed all members from two other key committees. “EPA is evaluating the 2020 nominations for the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC). We anticipate appointing new members in the near future. We are following the membership process -- which has benefitted...

Boosting Industry Defenses, Judge Blocks Prop. 65 Food-Chemical Warning

In a major First Amendment victory for industry groups, a federal judge is blocking California and private litigants from enforcing a requirement that businesses provide Proposition 65 cancer warnings for the food chemical acrylamide after finding the state had not shown scientific evidence justified the warning requirement. In a March 30 ruling in California Chamber of Commerce v. Xavier Becerra Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a preliminary injunction...

EPA Strengthens New Chemical Risk Reviews, Targets Worker Protections

EPA’s acting chemicals chief is detailing a series of steps to toughen reviews of new chemicals, including increasing the use of enforcement orders after approving pre-manufacture notices (PMNs), expanding the scope of reviews and dropping what critics said were overly optimistic assumptions on workers’ use of protective gear. During her March 29 keynote address to the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) annual GlobalChem convention, Acting Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff reiterated her previous pledge to apply...

EPA Will ‘Surgically’ Revise TSCA Evaluations While Advancing Risk Rules

EPA’s acting chemicals chief says the agency plans to reopen some or all of the first 10 TSCA evaluations of existing chemicals but will make any changes “surgically,” while moving ahead with rules to address “unreasonable” risks identified in the Trump-era versions, in what appears to be her clearest statement yet of the agency’s toxics agenda. Michal Freedhoff, the acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, laid out her plans for the chemical evaluations and...

Environmentalists Eye ‘Damning’ Records To Support TSCA Reversals

Environmentalists say newly released emails between Trump EPA toxics officials and industry figures show a “damning” level of coordination between the agency and regulated entities, which they hope will in turn help convince the Biden administration to undo its predecessor’s policies. In a recent interview with Inside TSCA , environmental attorney and former EPA official Bob Sussman said the correspondence, which deals with several aspects of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) new chemicals program including model language for consent...

Trump Officials Blocked Staffs’ Chemical Nominations For IRIS Assessments

EPA sources say Trump-era political appointees interfered with the process for staff to nominate chemicals for risk assessment in the influential Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, leading to the sharp decline in nominations for 2021 that prompted the Biden administration to reopen nominations this month. “There were some concerns about the last round of IRIS nominations, really the last several rounds of the IRIS nomination process, where there was political interference in the process,” one agency source tells Inside...

Industry Faces Hurdles From PBT Rule Despite EPA ‘No Action’ Pledge

Industry attorneys are welcoming EPA’s six-month enforcement pause for some aspects of its novel TSCA rule governing one persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemical, but they say companies wrestling with how to eliminate the flame retardant from their supply chains still face challenges despite the agency’s “no action assurance.” During a March 17 webcast hosted by the law firm Keller Heckman, attorney James Votaw said the enforcement pause “opened the door” to a “practicable transition” away from use of the...

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