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.

EPA drops plan to repeal Washington water quality standard

EPA has dropped its controversial plan to reconsider strict water quality standards the Obama administration set to address toxic chemicals in Washington state, saying it “erroneously” began taking comment on the issue last week, though critics say they expect the agency to resume consideration of the issue sometime in the future. “I actually think it’s a really strong signal that we will see this opened up,” Jerry White Jr., the Spokane Riverkeeper, told The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review . “It’s an unfortunate...

EPA proposes changes for 2020 chemical data rule

EPA is proposing a series of changes for its 2020 rule governing chemical use and other data industry must submit under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), measures that include provisions aimed at reducing businesses' reporting burdens which industry groups had failed to win when a negotiated rulemaking on the issue collapsed in 2017. The agency April 12 released its proposed Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule for 2020, a rule the agency issues every four years to gather information...

IRIS' High-Profile Chief To Be Shifted To New Role Under ORD Reorganization

Tina Bahadori, chief of the EPA research center that oversees its influential Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, is slated to be shifted to a new role as part of the Office of Research and Development's (ORD) reorganization, a move that some say may be driven by her efforts to advance a program the Trump administration is seeking to sideline. “There's no more competent person to lead the IRIS program” than Bahadori, one former EPA source says, adding that she...

EPA proposes rule for reviewing certain TSCA CBI claims

EPA has released its proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule detailing how it will review industry confidentiality claims on chemical identities listed as active on the agency's TSCA inventory, including querying whether the data has been previously disclosed and allowing exemptions for certain previously substantiated claims. “We continue to be committed to fostering transparency about information on chemicals while protecting verified confidential information,” EPA toxics chief Alexandra Dapolito Dunn said in an April 10 statement. “With this proposed rule,...

IG issues alert on inaccuracy of POTW TRI data

EPA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is warning that data in the agency's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) dealing with releases from wastewater treatment facilities may be inaccurate and in an unusual public “alert,” is urging swift action to address it. OIG “decided to issue an immediate management alert informing the agency of our discovery that its TRI data pertaining to releases of hazardous substances from Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) are inaccurate,” its April 8 memo states. “As a...

Despite Agency Pledges, Utilities Press EPA For Timeline On LCR Proposal

Municipal drinking water utilities are pressing EPA water chief David Ross on the agency's timeline for proposing revisions to the lead and copper rule (LCR), which agency officials have said is expected this summer, suggesting a cautiousness after the agency has repeatedly missed previous internal deadlines. “What is the likelihood we see a lead and copper rule this summer?” Diane VanDe Hei, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), asked Ross April 8 at the group's 2019...

EPA Issues New Chemical SNURs, Opening Door To Landmark TSCA Suit

EPA has finalized significant new use rules (SNURs) on 13 new chemicals using an approach intended to speed up reviews but which environmentalists and others oppose, setting the stage for a likely first-time suit on how EPA addresses new chemicals and protects workers under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In an April 5 Federal Register notice , EPA finalized first-time SNURs addressing risks that a group of new chemicals could present if used in certain reasonably foreseen...

Final SNURs

EDF Comments

PMN Submitters


NAS Backs Use Of Oil Dispersants But Seeks To Harmonize Test Methods

A National Academies of Sciences (NAS) panel is backing the use of chemical dispersants to address oil spills but is urging EPA and other agencies to harmonize their toxicity testing methods and take other steps to address them, advice that could help environmentalists who are pledging to sue to force the agency to update its rules on dispersants. NAS' Committee on the Evaluation of the Use of Chemical Dispersants in Oil Spill Response April 5 released a report , “The...

OMB clears EPA’s TSCA CBI proposed rule

White House officials have completed review of EPA's proposed rule creating a system under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the agency to review industry confidentiality claims on chemical identities listed as active on the inventory, clearing the way for EPA to issue the proposal. The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) April 4 completed review of the “Procedural Rule: Review of CBI Claims for the Identity of Chemicals on the TSCA Inventory -- Amended TSCA...

Court Extends Limit On Obama-era Bid To Restrict Climate-Warming HFCs

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has overturned a second Obama-era rule requiring appliance and other manufacturers to replace climate-warming hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, agreeing with two of the chemical’s producers that it should extend its prior precedent limiting such policies. In a brief April 5 per curiam decision in Mexichem Fluor, Inc. v. EPA , the court agreed with HFC makers Mexichem and Arkema that EPA’s 2016 rule at issue in the case violates...

Wheeler Seeks To Harmonize EPA Risk Practices, Adding To IRIS Pressure

Administrator Andrew Wheeler is asking top EPA scientists to develop new guidance aimed at harmonizing risk assessment practices across the agency, an effort that sources say is likely to put further pressure on the agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program and its conservative approaches. The effort appears to echo a controversial plan pushed by Nancy Beck, EPA's current deputy toxics chief when she served in the Bush administration. The plan sought to craft harmonized risk assessment guidance for EPA...

Suspended Children's Health Office Chief Returns To EPA In New Role

Updated Appended EPA leaders have quietly brought the agency's former children's health chief back though in a new role, after abruptly removing her last fall, sparking a firestorm of criticism and messaging efforts to show the topic remains important at the Trump EPA. Multiple sources tell Inside EPA that Ruth Etzel has recently returned to work at EPA, but not in her previous role as director of the Office of Children's Health Protection (OCHP). Rather, Etzel, a pediatrician...

States Step Up Criticism Of EPA's PFAS Plan, Seek Binding Mandates

Groups representing state environment officials are publicly criticizing EPA's recently released multi-media action plan for addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), citing weaknesses across many program areas and calling for the agency to go farther such as by setting binding standards for contaminants across multiple media. In an April 4 letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, the four groups say they “appreciate” the PFAS action plan, noting that it was crafted based on input from states along with other stakeholders,...

Texas chemical incidents intensify calls for EPA protections

Three chemical release incidents at Houston-area facilities in the last three weeks are intensifying calls for EPA and other federal agencies to bolster protections for fence-line communities, increase agencies' budgets and preserve and strengthen agency rules. “These sequential disasters highlight the dire need for more and better protections for these fence line communities. Polluters should not get a free pass to pollute our communities and harm our neighbors,” Public Citizen said in an April 2 statement . Their comments come...

EPA to release draft plan for methylmercury IRIS assessment

EPA is slated to release its draft assessment plan for its pending Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of the human health risks of exposure to methylmercury, providing an update to a 2001 analysis that became the center of a lengthy struggle between EPA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over advice to pregnant women on eating fish. The document, scheduled for release April 4, will include “information on the scoping needs identified by EPA program and regional offices...

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