Regulation - 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...

PEER’s PFAS Petition Revives Focus On Inhance As TSCA Action Slows

Environmentalists’ data quality petition asking EPA to drop statements from its website that claim a legacy PFAS -- perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) -- has been phased out of production revives their focus on the fluorinated plastics manufacturer whose containers were leaking chemicals as EPA efforts to regulate the containers under TSCA have slowed. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed an Oct. 29 petition under the Information Quality Act (IQA) urging the agency to withdraw two statements contained in Q&A fact...

Dekleva Says Trump EPA Did Not ‘Reverse’ Itself On TSCA Asbestos Rule

EPA deputy chemicals chief Lynn Dekleva is denying that the agency reversed its position when it decided to retain the Biden-era TSCA ban on uses of chrysotile asbestos after dropping earlier plans, first detailed by Dekleva in pending litigation, to conduct notice-and-comment rulemaking to reconsider the measure. Dekleva told reporters earlier this month that while she had initially told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that the agency would reconsider the rule, officials had not, at that...

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-...

EPA Touts Trump Improvements To Clear Chemical Risk Notification Backlog

EPA is touting “process improvements implemented by the Trump administration” that it says has allowed the agency to clear a substantial backlog of chemical risk notifications required under TSCA section 8(e), which requires chemical manufacturers to inform EPA about substances that present a “substantial risk” of injury. EPA’s chemical office announced Oct. 10 that a special team processed over 3,000 submissions, flagging 920 as “high interest” and distributing them across the agency. The backlog clearance was accomplished by a team...

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...

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...

EPA Questions On Key TSCA Terms’ Definitions Could Narrow Evaluations

EPA is seeking comments on whether and how to define key TSCA terms in its replacement to the Biden-era “framework” rule that sets procedures for TSCA risk evaluations, which could narrow the breadth of future evaluations and rules through first-time descriptions of terms Congress added to the reformed law but that remain in question. “Probably the most surprising thing in the [proposed] rule, is that EPA asks commenters, ‘Should EPA define what is reasonably foreseeable?’” an industry source tells Inside...

Stakeholders Spar Over Effects Of Proposed TSCA Framework Changes

Environmental and industry groups are offering competing views of the expected effects of the Trump EPA’s proposed changes to the TSCA “framework” rule for evaluating the risks of existing chemicals, with environmentalists arguing the changes will result in understating risks and industry praising EPA for bringing order to a chaotic process. “EPA’s new proposal would weaken the review of toxic substances currently in use, preventing the consideration of all the ways people are exposed to these chemicals and discounting real-world...

EPA Floats Proposal To Scale Back Biden-Era TSCA Framework Rule

The Trump EPA is proposing to overhaul major portions of the Biden-era rule outlining how the agency evaluates chemical risks under TSCA including eliminating a requirement to make a single, “whole chemical” risk determination and revising how the agency will consider occupational exposure controls. “In this action, EPA proposes to rescind or revise certain 2024 amendments to the procedural framework rule to effectuate the best reading of the statute and ensure that the procedural framework rule does not impede the...

White House Completes Review Of Revised TSCA ‘Framework’ Rule

The White House has completed its pre-publication review of the Trump EPA’s draft proposed rule to replace the Biden-era “framework” rule laying out procedures for evaluating existing chemicals under TSCA, meaning the agency is poised to release the draft for public comment. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received the reconsidered rule from EPA Aug. 4, and completed its review Sept. 18, according to OMB’s website. That represents a faster than usual process, since OMB review generally...

EPA Prioritizes Data Center-Related New Chemicals For TSCA Review

The Trump EPA is prioritizing TSCA reviews for new chemicals related to data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) projects, a shift from the Biden administration’s focus on speeding review of fossil fuel alternatives and battery components, while acknowledging the existing backlog of other new chemicals awaiting review. EPA’s Sept. 18 announcement responds to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14178, “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure,” and follows a Sept. 15 AI roundtable at the White House, led by...

A Long-Term Hiring Freeze Could Add To New Chemicals Division Problems

If Trump administration officials maintain their freeze on external hiring at EPA’s chemicals office for the duration of the administration, it will further exacerbate challenges within the TSCA program, particularly the New Chemicals Division’s long-running effort to eliminate the years-long backlog of applications, a source familiar with the matter says. Any long-term continuation of the hiring freeze “means you have to cannibalize what you have before you can get something new,” the source says. The comments follow President Donald Trump’s...

Trump EPA Defends Appointees After Reversed Asbestos Rule Redo Plan

The Trump EPA is continuing to support two of its high-ranking appointees, general counsel Sean Donahue and chemicals appointee Lynn Dekleva, even though Administrator Lee Zeldin overturned their plan to rewrite the Biden-era TSCA ban on uses of chrysotile asbestos, forcing tougher scrutiny of some decisions. Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator in EPA’s chemicals office, “is a highly qualified, dedicated public servant, and is among the brightest minds in her field committed to upholding EPA’s mission of protecting human health and...

EPA Extends Certain TCE Compliance Deadlines Days Ahead Of Bans

EPA is extending certain compliance deadlines in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of trichloroethylene (TCE) that it says critical industry sectors will be unable to meet, just days before the first of those deadlines for wastewater discharges and nuclear fuel manufacturing were set to take effect. EPA released Sept. 12 a pre-publication copy of a Federal Register notice describing the interim final rule, which extends the compliance deadline for the 2024 TCE risk management rule’s ban...

TCE Deadline Extension Said To Address TSCA Rule’s Wastewater Releases

The White House is reviewing a new interim final rule to extend deadlines in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), with the extended deadlines expected to address the current rule’s prohibition on any releases of TCE to wastewater, a concern chemical manufacturers raised to the agency in a May petition. EPA sent the interim final rule titled “Trichloroethylene (TCE); Regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Compliance Date Extension” for pre-publication review by the White...

Zeldin Overruled Top Appointees To Reverse Asbestos Rule Redo Plan

The Trump EPA’s recent 180-degree reversal on its initial plan to rescind the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead issue new guidance on the 2024 rule, came after Administrator Lee Zeldin overruled two other senior Trump EPA appointees, a source with knowledge of the internal matter says. According to the source, after a series of emergency meetings in July, Zeldin reversed a decision by Lynn Dekleva, deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical...

Trump EPA Offers Slimmer, Delayed Regulatory Agenda For TSCA Program

The Trump administration’s newly released “spring 2025” regulatory agenda shows a significantly slimmer agenda for EPA’s TSCA program than in the Biden EPA’s final months, with most items remaining on the agenda seeing extended deadlines for action and several rules moving from the active to the “long-term actions” section of the agenda. While the Trump EPA has repeatedly sought delays in multiple court challenges to Biden-era Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rules in order to rewrite them, only two of...

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