Toxics

EPA efforts to expand toxic chemical regulations and reform its risk-assessment process, as well as the debate over revising the Toxic Substances Control Act, are just some of the topics featured in our Toxics section.

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EPA efforts to expand toxic chemical regulations and reform its risk-assessment process, as well as the debate over revising the Toxic Substances Control Act, are just some of the topics featured in our Toxics section.

PEER Touts Recycling Trade Group’s Rejection Of PFAS-Laden Containers

Environmentalists are touting a recent move by a plastics recycling industry trade group deeming PFAS-containing plastic packaging as unrecyclable under a California labeling law, arguing it is an indirect action that incentivizes the phase-out of PFAS-containing products and packaging amid a slow EPA response on fluorinated containers. In a Nov. 5 press release , Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) noted an October decision by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) to halt the review of new and existing applications...

Environmentalists Warn AI, NAMs Could Undercut TSCA Assessments

As EPA ramps up its use of artificial intelligence (AI) and new approach methods (NAMs) in TSCA reviews, environmentalists are warning that such methods could undercut protective risk evaluations and are urging the agency to rely on its children’s health office and advisors to continue to guide the use of such methods. In comments submitted to EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC) earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups raised concerns about EPA’s plan...

EPA Combustor Plan Floats Eased Method For Unregulated Air Toxics

EPA is proposing new limits for previously unregulated pollutants emitted by hazardous waste combustors (HWC), but it is using a broader and less-stringent approach than in previous air toxics rule reviews, making extensive use of alternatives to traditional numeric limits such as work practice requirements and “health-based” standards. In a notice signed by Administrator Lee Zeldin on Oct. 28 ahead of its upcoming publication in the Federal Register , EPA proposes to modify the national emission standards for hazardous air...

PEER Petitions EPA To Walk Back Claims That PFOA Has Been Phased Out

Environmentalists are petitioning EPA to drop statements from its website that claim that chemical manufacturers have phased out the production of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a legacy PFAS, arguing in a just-filed data quality petition that the compound is still being found in fluorinated plastic containers at the heart of long-running litigation. “It is the height of hypocrisy for EPA to pretend these chemicals are no longer being manufactured when they are permeating our chain of commerce,” said Kyla Bennett, science...

EPW Backs OECA, OCSPP Picks On Party Lines; Bills Win Broader Support

The Senate environment committee is advancing on party lines President Trump’s nominees to lead EPA’s enforcement and chemicals offices while approving on a bipartisan basis a suite of bills, including measures that would authorize a new Western mine-cleanup office, reauthorize diesel emissions reduction grants and address plastic pollution. During an Oct. 29 business meeting, Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) lawmakers voted 10-9 along party lines to confirm both Jeffrey Hall and Douglas Troutman to lead EPA’s Office of Enforcement...

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...

White House Clears Proposal Expected To Ease PFAS Reporting Burdens

The White House has completed its interagency review of EPA’s proposed rule that is expected to scale back reporting on PFAS-containing products, potentially easing the burden on manufacturers by introducing exemptions for certain uses that would decrease overall reporting costs. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared the proposed rule, “Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Data Reporting and Recordkeeping under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Revision to Regulation,” on Oct. 24, after it was submitted Aug...

Key Senate EPW Members Hint At Priorities For Bipartisan TSCA Talks

The chair and ranking member of the Senate environment committee’s chemicals panel are signaling a desire to work together to address concerns about consumer exposure to PFAS and other harmful chemicals in any TSCA reform push, though prospects for any legislation remain dim given partisan differences and other concerns. During the Oct. 23 hearing before the environment committee’s Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the ranking member, asked Tracey Woodruff, a...

PFAS Face Uncertain Prospects In EPA Plan To Prioritize AI Chemical Reviews

Despite the Trump EPA’s announcement that it would prioritize TSCA reviews for new chemicals related to artificial intelligence (AI) and data center projects, questions remain about whether more PFAS, particularly fluoropolymers that are often used in semiconductor production, would benefit from the new prioritization. “What we don’t know is what new chemicals there are,” Lenny Siegel, a member of CHIPS Communities United, a coalition of unions, environmentalists and community groups seeking a responsible and equitable semiconductor industry, told Inside PFAS...

Industry Continues Push For CFATS Reauthorization, Citing Security Gaps

Chemical industry groups are continuing their push to revive the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (CFATS) program two years after its expiration, citing concerns over security gaps that undermine the industry’s operational integrity and ability to remain secure from the threat of terror attacks. Eric Byer, president and CEO of the Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD), told Inside EPA that while “no progress has been made” on getting the program reauthorized, the group is trying to “keep the noise there...

Newsom Veto Triggers Debate Over How To Regulate Products With PFAS

Industry and environmental groups are at odds over how to regulate PFAS in products after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill banning the chemicals from cookware and several other product categories, with industry arguing the state’s green chemistry program should lead the way while environmentalists strongly disagree. “Let’s be clear: the Department of Toxic Substances Control [DTSC] first needs to execute the risk-categorization process that has been in statute since 2008 instead of creating further uncertainty with one-off...

Absent Federal Policy, Key Democrat Sees Ongoing State PFAS Patchwork

Despite significant industry concerns, the state patchwork of regulations tackling PFAS contamination from consumer products is “going to be the defining feature of PFAS regulation over the next decade,” a key House Democrat says, especially given slim prospects for a unified federal approach from EPA or Congress. “I understand that industry gets heartburn about a patchwork of state policies,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said during an Oct. 22 event, “Chemistry Solutions Forum,” in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Chamber...

Waterkeeper Seeks FOIA Records On EPA’s SDWA PFAS Rule Changes

Environmentalists are questioning EPA’s transparency in its decision to delay and partially rescind landmark drinking water limits for several PFAS, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking a range of records related to its planned rule changes, including a stalled risk assessment that may undercut agency efforts to ease the limits. Waterkeeper Alliance Oct. 21 filed a FOIA request with EPA asking for records from Jan. 20 to the present related to the agency’s drinking water rule for...

House Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Bipartisan TSCA Bill Prospects

Two members of a key House panel -- one Democrat, one Republican -- are raising concerns about a closing window to revise TSCA, noting that the shutdown and a toxic partisan relationship are creating more challenges to the effort, even as the Democrat says a bipartisan approach would provide the most enduring solution. Reps. Gary Palmer (R-AL), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subpanel, and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), a subcommittee member, made their remarks at the U.S...

After Court Order, EPA Vows To Pause Plans To RIF Waste, Chemicals Offices

EPA is pledging to pause planned shutdown-related reductions in force (RIFs) in its waste and chemicals offices for the duration of a court order that found such plans to be illegal, according to a new court filing from the Trump administration. In an Oct. 17 declaration , Krysti Wells, EPA’s acting Chief Human Capital Officer, said the agency “is complying” with a federal district court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) and “will not proceed with any RIFs prohibited by the TRO...

Key House Democrat Presses Zeldin On Delayed PFNA Risk Assessment

A key House Democratic appropriator is pressing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to release a delayed risk assessment for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), a long-chain PFAS linked to developmental harms, questioning its delay this spring at the same time Zeldin moved to rescind drinking water limits for PFNA and other PFAS. “The delay in issuing the PFNA report coincided with EPA’s decision, in May of this year, to rescind some PFAS Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, one of which happens to be...

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