ISSUE: Inside TSCA

Industry Says EPA’s Sudden Shift On TSCA ‘Corrections’ May Be Unlawful

A chemicals group is warning EPA that its plan to drop a more than 40-year-old procedure for correcting entries on the TSCA inventory “seems to” constitute a rulemaking issued without legally required notice and comment, urging the agency to delay the move and open a comment period to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). In a March 25 letter , a consortium of companies working on Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) new chemicals issues writes EPA’s chemicals chief Michal...

Industry Sees Mixed Messages In EPA’s PFAS Enforcement Warning

EPA’s recent announcement that it could treat per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in certain fluorinated plastics as a TSCA violation is sparking confusion among industry attorneys over the agency’s intentions, with some calling it a warning of imminent action and others a friendly reminder of the law’s requirements. “What some stakeholders are probably trying to figure out is what does this mean, how do we read these tea leaves? … Is this a shot across the bow?” Clinton-era chemicals...

Environmentalists Ask 9th Circuit To Deny Remand Of decaBDE Rule

Environmentalists are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to reject EPA’s request for a remand of its 2021 TSCA rule limiting use of the flame retardant decabrominated diphenyl ether (decaBDE), saying the agency has not met the low bar for such a step in part because it is not naming any specific elements of the policy it plans to change. “EPA’s request to delay this litigation for years so it may reconsider supposedly ‘numerous’ -- but...

EPA Aims For Rapid Turnaround On TSCA Rules In New Strategic Plan

EPA is vowing in its newly finalized strategic plan for fiscal years 2022-26 to close by late 2026 the current lengthy gap between when it finalizes its TSCA risk evaluations and starts writing risk management rules based on those reviews, aiming to begin the regulatory process within 45 days. The FY22-26 plan , which EPA released March 28, adds that goal to two others for the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) program that were part of a draft version released...

EPA Seeks To Boost TSCA Funding, Staff Levels By Half In FY23 Budget

EPA is asking Congress to boost the TSCA office’s budget and staffing levels by roughly 50 percent each in its fiscal year 2023 budget request, seeking an additional $64 million and 149 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions for the program in what it says is a necessary move to close massive resource and personnel shortfalls. The FY23 White House budget request and EPA’s budget in brief , both released March 28, outline a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) budget of $124...

PFAS Testing Petitioners Call EPA Bid To Move Suit A ‘Bait And Switch’

Plaintiffs suing EPA to force TSCA testing mandates for dozens of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) linked to a North Carolina Chemours facility say EPA’s request to transfer the case to a federal court near that site amounts to a “bait and switch,” because it has no intention of calling witnesses from the company. Plaintiffs in Center for Environmental Health, et al., v. Regan filed a March 24 brief seeking to keep the case in the U.S. District Court...

TSCA Official Says ‘Complex’ Biofuels Prompted New Review Process

A manager at EPA’s TSCA new-chemicals office says the agency’s rollout of a streamlined approach to reviewing biofuels and related substances was prompted in part by how “complex” those chemicals are, spurring officials to develop consolidated environmental and human health risk assessments for them. During a March 23 webinar on the biofuels review process , Jeffrey Gallagher, a team lead in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)’s new chemicals division, gave more detail on the agency’s plan...

PEER Fears EPA May Use FY22 Hiring To Bolster Safer Choice, Not TSCA

A whistleblower group is raising concerns that EPA’s toxics office may seek to use some of its just-approved congressional authorization to hire new staffers for the Safer Choice program, which the agency is quietly seeking to re-establish as a full-fledged branch with 12 scientists and other permanent staff, rather than TSCA operations. EPA chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff late last year notified its staff union that “we intend to restore the management of the Safer Choice Program to branch status --...

EPA Issues New TSCA Test Orders Targeting Eight ‘High-Priority’ Chemicals

EPA is ordering chemical manufacturers to conduct a second round of toxicity tests on eight of the second batch of 20 chemicals it has designated as high-priority for TSCA evaluation, based on a finding that Trump-era test orders, which relied on non-animal tests, left gaps on their dangers to consumers, birds and aquatic life. “After reviewing reasonably available data on these chemicals, EPA has determined additional data are needed and is using its [Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)] test order...

Adviser Urges EPA To Weigh Mixtures Under TSCA Despite ‘Tough’ Burden

A member of EPA’s chemical research advisory panel and co-author of a new study on the risks of chemical mixtures is urging the agency to more broadly consider those health effects in its TSCA work even though how to adapt the agency’s processes to combinations of toxic substances remains a “tough” question to solve. During a March 22 webinar hosted by the Collaborative on Health and Environment, Chris Gennings -- a biostatistics research professor at the Icahn School of Medicine...

‘Woefully’ Short-Handed EPA Could Face Wave Of TSCA Correction Filings

Industry attorneys are warning that EPA’s “woefully” understaffed toxics office will soon see a flurry of requests to correct entries on its TSCA inventory of chemicals in commerce after the agency suddenly announced it will stop accepting new applications by April 26, while a trade group is preparing a detailed “rebuttal” of the plan. “Why now? We’re coming out of a pandemic, EPA is woefully short on staff and then this is going to happen,” Tom Berger, a partner with...

9th Circuit Upholds Bar On Prop. 65 Acrylamide Warning In Industry Win

A federal appellate court has upheld a lower court’s injunction on California’s Prop. 65 warning label for the food chemical acrylamide, which experts say could bolster future First Amendment challenges to labeling mandates for chemicals when research into their links to cancer or reproductive harms is mixed. A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled March 17 in California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) v. Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT)...

Chemours Asks EPA To Correct ‘Flawed’ GenX Toxicological Assessment

The chemical manufacturer Chemours is asking EPA to revise its final toxicity analysis of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known as GenX -- which set the strictest federal toxicity value yet for a perfluorinated chemical -- arguing that it is “flawed” and “overstates” the compound’s human-health risks. Chemours filed a request for correction (RfC) with EPA on March 18, invoking Information Quality Act (IQA) procedures that allow entities to petition federal agencies to correct what they believe is erroneous...

EPA Highlights Industry Chemical Phaseouts Amid ‘Green Chemistry’ Push

EPA is touting efforts by metal finishing facilities in California to apply new technology and safer substitutes to cut their use of toxic chemicals including hexavalent chromium (Cr6) as part of its broader efforts to encourage “green chemistry” practices, and amid a recent cross-industry push to find safer substitutes for Cr6 in particular. The pollution prevention (P2) program within EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) used a March 21 webinar to highlight work by Los Angeles authorities with...

Chemicals Office Gains ‘Title 42’ Hiring Authority Amid Staffing Struggles

The fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill authorizes EPA for the first time to hire up to 25 scientists for the chemicals office under “Title 42” authority allowing it to exceed the usual civil-service pay cap, after officials repeatedly warned that the TSCA program lacks enough staff and other resources to implement the law. While the FY22 omnibus bill includes only a 3.4 percent budget increase for EPA, up to $9.56 billion, House and Senate appropriators’ joint explanatory statement released...

ADAO Presses OMB For Broad Asbestos Reporting Rule As Proposal Nears

As EPA approaches its court deadline to propose a TSCA reporting rule for asbestos, a key group behind that requirement is renewing its push for a stringent rule, arguing in a recent meeting with the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that the agency should set no de minimis reporting threshold, among other priorities. Representatives of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) used a March 18 meeting with OMB staff reviewing the forthcoming proposal both to remind...

EPA Denies Petition To Ease Chloroprene Risk Level After Lengthy Review

EPA has turned down an industry request to “correct” its controversial Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of chloroprene, a chemical used to make synthetic rubber, saying its extensive peer review process “substantially exceeds” its mandatory response to Data Quality Act (DQA) petitions and should not “be interpreted as setting a precedent for any future . . . request.” The agency sent a March 14 letter denying Denka Performance Elastomers’ request for consideration (RFC) of the 2010 chloroprene assessment. The...

Washington Lawmakers Back Bill To Speed Landmark PFAS Restrictions

Washington state is poised to enact legislation that would further accelerate what industry has already said is one of the nation’s most aggressive timelines for new limits on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in several categories of consumer products as well as firefighting equipment. H.B. 1694 , which would shorten the timeline for implementing previously approved legislation limiting several PFAS uses, cleared the state Senate and House of Representatives with wide majorities in March 9 and 10...

IRIS Debuts PCB ‘Mixture’ Tool That Could Apply To Other Chemicals

Scientists with EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program are showcasing a new tool they say is designed to aid the long-pending assessment of risks from mixtures of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) but could be adapted to “any” substance, just as the agency is facing pressure to step up scrutiny of mixtures under TSCA and other laws. IRIS scientists told attendees at a March 16 agency webinar that the new Mixtures Similarity Tool (MiST) software will bolster the program’s long-running effort...

Scientists Tout ‘Pre-Competitive’ Industry Work On Alternative Chemicals

A new industry report on efforts to develop alternatives to hexavalent chromium (Cr6) for the aerospace sector highlights the benefits of manufacturers setting aside competition to pool their research on safer alternatives to toxic chemicals, sources say -- a model that could extend to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), among others. The Feb. 28 paper , published in the Journal of Aerospace and Technology , describes joint research between the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI), Raytheon Technologies and Lockheed Martin...

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