INSIDE TSCA

ACC Urges EPA To Further Loosen PCE Workplace Standard In TSCA Rule

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is urging EPA to loosen worker exposure limits in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) even more than the Trump administration has proposed, although other industry representatives have taken different stances on the rule. ACC’s Chlorine Panel “supports the reconsideration of the PCE rule but does not support the alternative exposure limits that the Agency identifies. . . . Although these alternative limits may alleviate...

Environmentalists File More CDR Violation Citizen Enforcement Suits

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has filed two new suits against companies it claims failed to report chemical imports to EPA as required by TSCA’s Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) program, following up on earlier “citizen enforcement suits” CEH has filed against other companies in recent years over what it calls EPA’s lax CDR implementation. In complaints filed Aug. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, CEH claims that two firms -- Martin Resource Management Corp...

OMB Begins Review Of TSCA Proposal To Ease PFAS Reporting Mandates

EPA has sent for White House review a proposed TSCA rule that is expected to scale back Biden-era PFAS reporting requirements, following the agency’s announcement that it was “considering reopening certain aspects of the rule to public comment” after an industry coalition argued the measure fails to align with the best reading of the toxics law. EPA submitted the proposed rule, “Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Data Reporting and Recordkeeping under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Revision to Regulation”...

Inhance Calls Environmentalists’ Novel TSCA Fluorination Suit ‘Meritless’

A Texas-based plastics container manufacturer is joining EPA in urging the D.C. Circuit to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of environmentalists’ novel litigation seeking to force the agency to expedite regulation of PFAS in fluorinated plastic containers under TSCA, arguing the environmentalists’ arguments are “meritless.” “This litigation faces multiple justiciability problems, and the Court can affirm based on any of them,” Inhance Technologies says in its Aug. 29 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

Company’s Niche Products Drive Unique Suit For TSCA CBI Protection

A Georgia chemical company’s pending lawsuit over EPA’s denial of TSCA confidential business information (CBI) protection for its products appears to be the first time a company has challenged such a determination, likely driven by the unique situation of the company’s niche products being unavailable elsewhere, one legal expert says. “It's a very interesting case, and I'm very looking forward to the disposition by the court,” Herbert Estreicher, partner with Keller & Heckman, said during the firm’s Aug. 13 TSCA...

EDF Urges EPA To Maintain Biden-Era PCE Workplace Exposure Standard

Environmentalists are calling on the Trump administration to maintain the stringent standard for permissible workplace exposures to the solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) set in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many of its uses, arguing that the alternatives offered by Trump officials do not meet the statute’s unreasonable risk standard. “We strongly discourage the agency from reconsidering and weakening the final TSCA section 6 rule on PCE. EPA determined that PCE poses an unreasonable risk to human health and...

In Surprise, House Poised To Unveil Draft TSCA Reform Bill Ahead Of Senate

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are poised to release a draft TSCA reform bill soon after lawmakers return from their summer recess next week, sources say, a surprise given that many observers expected the Senate to go first on advancing any legislation. “The House was putting pen to paper this month with hopes of having some draft when Congress returns,” an industry source tells Inside TSCA . “Last I heard, they are ahead of the Senate.” Such...

Environmentalists Oppose Another EPA-Requested Delay In PCE Rule Suit

Environmentalists are opposing EPA’s request for the 5th Circuit to delay for another 90 days the legal challenges over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc), reminding the court that it had previously set an Aug. 21 deadline for EPA to resolve the issue or proceed with the suit. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) filed an Aug. 27 motion urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to...

Emerging Case Law Suggests Possible Jury Trials Over TSCA Penalties

Emerging case law suggests that companies facing TSCA enforcement actions may soon seek jury trials to challenge any civil penalties they face given emerging case law in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that opened the door to such trials, one legal expert says. The issue has yet to be tested in a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) suit, but lower courts are beginning to apply the findings of Jarkesy v. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) , which...

EPA Urges D.C. Circuit To Uphold Dismissal Of TSCA Fluorination Suit

EPA is urging the D.C. Circuit to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of environmentalists’ litigation seeking to force the agency to expedite regulation of PFAS in fluorinated plastic containers under TSCA, arguing the text of the toxics law supports the lower court’s ruling and that environmentalists lack standing. “The plain language of TSCA shows that the district court’s rulings were correct, and Plaintiffs’ arguments on appeal amount to little more than a plea to ignore TSCA’s text in pursuit of...

EPA Requests Another Delay In PCE Rule Suit Though ‘Prepared To Proceed’

EPA is asking the 5th Circuit to grant another 90-day abeyance in legal challenges over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) but says it is “prepared to proceed” if the court denies its request, after the court in May directed EPA to resolve the suits or be ready to go forward by Aug. 21. “EPA is currently reconsidering the challenged rule and recently published a notice in the Federal Register...

Drycleaners Urge EPA To Maintain Biden-Era TSCA PCE Regulation

A major drycleaning trade group is urging EPA to maintain the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the once-common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc), arguing the regulation strikes the right balance even as the Trump administration is reconsidering the rule and deciding whether to revise it. “[W]e continue to support the final rule promulgated in December 2024,” the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI), which represents drycleaners and launderers across the U.S., writes in Aug. 1 comments to EPA...

Group Withdraws Petition Asking EPA To Re-Write TSCA ‘Framework’ Rule

A Texas non-profit has withdrawn its petition asking EPA to re-write the Biden-era “framework” rule governing the agency’s TSCA evaluations of existing chemicals following the Trump EPA’s recent transmission of a proposed revision of the rule for White House review, although it is unclear whether EPA’s action is the cause of the petition withdrawal. The Center for Environmental Accountability (CEA), a non-profit run by a former Justice Department (DOJ) attorney who is now a law professor at the University of...

FDA Defends Denial Of Petition To Set First-Time Phthalates Limits

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is defending its denial of environmentalists’ petition seeking to revoke the allowance of phthalates in food-contact materials, an effort aimed at limiting exposures beyond those that might be subject to EPA regulation under TSCA and other laws. In an Aug. 13 brief , FDA argues the petitioners lack standing to challenge the denial in court and that the agency reasonably determined the current authorization should remain in place. Environmentalists’ complaint in Alaska Community Action...

EPA Again Delays TCE Rule From Taking Effect While Litigation Continues

EPA is extending once again the compliance deadlines for TSCA restrictions on certain critical uses of the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) to preserve the status quo while waiting for a federal appeals court to respond to competing requests over how consolidated litigation over the Biden-era TCE risk management rule should proceed. In a pre-publication Federal Register notice , EPA says it is postponing by an additional 90 days -- until Nov. 17 -- “the conditions imposed on each of the...

Dischargers Cite TSCA 1,4-DX Re-Evaluation In Defense Against Water Suit

The city of Asheboro, NC, and a nearby plastics manufacturer are pointing to the Trump EPA’s reconsideration of a TSCA risk assessment for 1,4-dioxane (1,4-DX) in their defense of a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit alleging they unlawfully discharged the chemical -- though environmentalists say EPA’s action is irrelevant. The defendants in Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly v. City of Asheboro, et al. , pending in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North...

Facing EPA Attack, Plaintiffs Defend Standing In TSCA Fluoride Appeal

Environmentalist plaintiffs seeking to force EPA to regulate drinking water fluoridation under TSCA are defending their standing to bring suit on the issue, urging a federal appeals court to reject EPA’s effort to discredit a key plaintiff’s standing by arguing the effort comes too late and involves statements subject to reasonable dispute. “There are no unusual or extraordinary circumstances to justify taking judicial notice of facts that EPA could have, but did not present to the district court,” Food and...

Court Grants Permanent Injunction On Prop. 65 Warning For Titanium Dioxide

A federal district court is ordering a permanent injunction on the California Proposition 65 cancer warning for titanium dioxide, finding that the industry plaintiff has met all the same tests it did when the judge issued a preliminary injunction in 2024 and that the warning language is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment. “The Court finds there have not been sufficient developments in the evidentiary record or to the warning language since its prior Order to change the conclusion that...

SACC Offers Mixed Feedback On EPA’s Phthalate Cumulative Risk Effort

Members of EPA’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) are commending EPA for some of the steps it has taken in its novel effort to evaluate the cumulative risks of phthalates under TSCA, but they are also raising concerns that the agency’s approach both underestimates and overestimates risks, as stakeholders have said. Their comments came during an Aug. 4-8 meeting to review EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) draft risk evaluations for dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP) and di(2-ethylhexyl)...

EPA Touts LVE Progress In April And May, Though Major Backlogs Remain

EPA is touting its efforts to speed TSCA reviews of low-volume exemption (LVE) applications for new chemicals, citing “process improvements implemented by the Trump Administration” that led to a reported uptick in LVE risk assessments in April and May -- though other data complicate that picture. “Under the Trump Administration, EPA recognizes that improving the review process for new chemicals is critical to advancing the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment, boosting our country’s economy, powering...

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