The Senate unanimously confirmed President Donald Trump's nominees to lead EPA's toxics and international offices in the final hours of the 115th Congress, but his nominee to lead OSHA and the EPA office overseeing facility safety and waste cleanups remain stalled.
November 15, 2026
Maria Hegstad
Maria Hegstad is managing editor of Inside EPA’s Risk Policy Report, where she has been writing about all things chemicals, risk assessment policy and toxicology since 2008. Before joining Inside EPA, Maria reported for local newspapers in Manassas, VA, and D.C., covering courts and local government. Maria is a proud native of the “other” Washington, raised in Tacoma. She earned her BA from the College of William & Mary and her MSJ from Medill.
Archived Articles
Alexandra Dunn, President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as EPA's toxics chief, is likely to face tough questions at her Nov. 29 confirmation hearing given Democrats long-standing opposition to Trump administration rules setting a framework for how EPA will consider chemicals' risks to workers and others under the revised toxics law.
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North Carolina regulators are asking their science advisors to review strict guidance developed with EPA for protecting against workers and others' exposures to trichloroethylene (TCE) through vapor intrusion at contaminated sites, amid ongoing controversy with EPA's 2011 assessment that found the solvent poses risks to pregnant women.
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Environmentalists are petitioning EPA to amend the agency's Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule under the revised toxics law to require businesses to report uses of asbestos, an effort advocates say would close a loophole created when EPA excluded asbestos from CDR because it is “naturally occurring,” and would provide valuable data to workers.
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OSHA and EPA are crafting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to guide consultations between the two agencies on protections to workers who may be exposed to new chemicals that EPA is reviewing under the revised toxics law to determine whether and under what conditions they should enter the market.
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As a federal appellate court weighs the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) standing to sue, the group is moving to drop its suit challenging the agency's draft framework for reviewing new chemicals under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), arguing that EPA has decided not to implement the framework.
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EPA has dropped an early plan to consider risks of asbestos exposures to firefighters and other first responders due to its policy of excluding legacy uses from consideration for possible regulation under the revised toxics law, a move that is drawing protest from a group representing the workers and highlights the controversy around the policy decision.
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