Litigation - TSCA

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...

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 ...

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...

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...

Company Supports EPA Definition Of TSCA’s Practicability In PBT Lawsuit

A pallet shipping company is seeking to bolster the Trump EPA’s defense of the Biden-era TSCA rule on persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals, arguing the agency correctly balanced risk and practicability in the rule despite petitioners’ claims that the rule is unlawful because it fails to protect them from exposure to a flame-retardant chemical. iGPS Logistics LLC filed an Oct. 6 amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in consolidated litigation known as...

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...

Judge Prods Action In Environmentalists’ TSCA New Chemicals Suit

The presiding judge in environmentalists’ long-running suit over EPA’s lack of transparency in conducting its TSCA new-chemicals reviews has ordered the parties to submit a new status report by month’s end, addressing the case’s status and the parties dispute over the materials plaintiffs argue EPA must produce as evidence in the case. Judge Loren AliKhan issued an Oct. 1 minute order directing parties in Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), et al. v. Wheeler to “file another joint status report on...

5th Circuit Again Extends Pause In 1,4-DX Suit Amid Government Shutdown

The 5th Circuit has again extended its pause of novel litigation over Biden-era revisions to the TSCA evaluation of 1,4-dioxane (1,4-DX), although the government shutdown is expected to further delay the Trump EPA’s progress on its promised 6-12-month review of the revisions’ and underlying evaluation’s cancer risk analysis. Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued a Sept. 30 order granting EPA’s “unopposed motion to extend the stay of proceedings for an...

Citing ‘Substantial Progress,’ EPA Seeks To Extend Pause In 1,4-DX Suit

EPA is again asking the 5th Circuit to extend its pause of novel litigation over Biden-era revisions to the TSCA evaluation of the solvent 1,4-dioxane (1,4-DX), arguing the agency has made “substantial progress” in reviewing the evaluation’s cancer analysis and officials are on track to complete the review within the promised six months. In a Sept. 29 motion , EPA asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to again extend its stay on Union Carbide Corporation (UCC)...

ADAO Blasts Industry Push For Asbestos Rule Vacatur, Touts New Ban Bills

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is blasting industry groups for renewing their call to vacate the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out uses of chrysotile asbestos, arguing that such claims prove the need for a legislative ban on asbestos even as ADAO is seeking to defend the rule while arguing it is too narrow. “It is reprehensible that, after nearly a decade of work, industry is asking the Court to vacate the rule entirely. Litigation is uncertain; if the rule...

Seeing High TSCA Bar, Industry Renews Call For Asbestos Rule Vacatur

Chemical manufacturers are renewing their calls for the 5th Circuit to vacate the Biden-era phaseout of the six remaining major uses of chrysotile asbestos, arguing EPA has overstepped its TSCA authority by imposing limits beyond those “necessary” to address unreasonable risks and by failing to defer to other agencies when necessary. In a joint Sept. 17 reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the industry groups argue that the Biden-era rule rewrites the Toxic Substances...

USW Says EPA’s Asbestos Rule Reversal Rationale Makes Its Legal Case

The United Steel Workers (USW) is urging the 5th Circuit to review the Trump EPA’s rationale for its July reversal on rewriting the Biden-era rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos, arguing the statement is a “clear concession” to USW’s argument that the 2024 rule violates TSCA because it does not adequately or equally protect all workers. “[S]ince it filed its brief, EPA has publicly stated -- in agreement with USW’s arguments -- ‘that the Biden Administration’s risk management...

5th Circuit Agrees To Extend Stay Of PCE Litigation For Another 90 Days

The 5th Circuit has granted EPA’s request to keep consolidated litigation over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) on hold for another 90 days, despite environmentalists’ opposition and the court’s initial position that the litigation should move forward. The Sept. 12 order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in Fabriclean Supply et al. v. EPA grants EPA’s motion to extend the stay of proceedings for...

EPA Seeks New Stay Of CTC Litigation As It Prepares To Revise Rule

EPA is asking the 8th Circuit to place consolidated litigation over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out uses of the solvent carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) back in abeyance while it develops a new rule that will consider changes to workplace exposure limits, noting that none of the challengers to the rule object. “Good cause exists for this abeyance request,” EPA says in a Sept. 12 motion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Abeyance now would...

EPA Renews Call For Court To Continue Abeyance In PCE Rule Case

EPA is urging the 5th Circuit to grant its request for 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), arguing that environmentalists who oppose the request would not be harmed by a continued stay and their arguments are faulty. EPA asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit Aug. 21 to extend its abeyance of consolidated litigation over the Toxic Substances Control Act...

8th Circuit Prods Parties To Resume TSCA CTC Rule Suit After Pause Ends

The 8th Circuit is prodding the parties challenging the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out uses of the solvent carbon tetrachloride (CTC or CCl4) to resume the litigation after the court’s last abeyance order expired Sept. 2 without action from any party. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued a Sept. 4 clerk’s order in Olin Corp. et al. v. EPA , stating the “consolidated cases are hereby removed from abeyance. The parties shall submit an amended Joint...

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...

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...

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...

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