Concerns over dozens of workplace fatalities attributed to methylene chloride exposures since the 1980s may hamper efforts by some small business owners and their supporters to prevent federal regulators from banning the chemicals' use in some operations.
September 17, 2026
White House regulatory affairs chief Neomi Rao is urging OSHA and other agencies to propose regulatory cost budget for fiscal year 2018, as required by a Trump administration executive order, that will indicate how agencies plan to reduce regulatory costs in the coming year.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reiterating its claims that labor and other public interest groups lack standing to sue over President Donald Trump's order (EO) that requires OSHA and other agencies to repeal two rules for every new measure issued, urging a federal court to take a broad interpretation of an appellate case that limited such challenges rather than the plaintiffs' preferred, limited view.
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Senate appropriators have advanced a draft fiscal year 2018 spending bill that would hold OSHA funding steady at FY17 levels, declining to follow the lead of House appropriators who this summer proposed slashing OSHA's budget and are currently seeking to block enforcement of Obama-era agency rules through riders on their spending bill.
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The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is backing a Trump administration plan to limit OSHA's final beryllium rule by scrapping certain provisions from applying to the construction and shipyard sectors, while also calling for restoring an abandoned Obama-era plan exempting some work sites or suspending an exposure limit for the two sectors until further review.
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A multidistrict litigation panel has randomly selected the U.S. appellate courts for the 9th and 4th Circuits to hear environmentalists' lawsuits challenging EPA rules for prioritizing and reviewing existing chemicals under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), though one environmentalist is backing EPA calls that the two suits should be consolidated in a single circuit.
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Lawsuits challenging EPA's initial rules implementing the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) will test the discretion courts are willing to give the agency on interpreting the law's definition of a chemical's “uses” that will determine when a substance is subject to the rules and must undergo a risk assessment, sources say.
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Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee, is stepping up his oversight of Trump administration plans to cut funding for inspectors in EPA's facility safety program and its plans to delay strict new program rules after recent explosions at a Texas chemical facility that flooded as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
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OSHA is proposing to delay for one additional year a deadline for crane operators to comply with certification requirements so the agency may finish a rule to address industry and operators' concerns with a 2010 update to its cranes standard, though Obama officials had expected to resolve the concerns this year and forgo the need for a delay.
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The fire at a Texas chemical facility caused by Hurricane Harvey is sparking calls for tougher facility safety rules to prevent exposures to hazardous substances.
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Federal appellate judges have denied environmental and labor groups' request to stay or vacate the Trump EPA's final rule delaying an Obama-era overhaul of the agency's facility accident prevention program, saying groups have failed to meet “stringent standards” for a stay, though the court also rejected EPA's request to slow briefing.
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As the Trump OSHA's deadline for public input on a proposal to weaken the Obama OSHA's final beryllium rule in the construction and shipyard sectors closes, the United Steelworkers (USW) is seeking a public hearing to oppose the plan, signaling an intensified debate over the measure.
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Bergeson & Campbell, a law firm that specializes in chemical industry issues, is creating a coalition of companies to craft uniform comments to EPA on industry concerns that have arisen with the agency’s process for reviewing “new” chemicals before they enter the market, including that some new restrictions duplicate OSHA regulation.
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A labor official is faulting the Trump OSHA for de-emphasizing worker deaths on its website after the agency narrowed criteria for publishing worker fatality data online and replaced a section of its homepage dedicated to worker fatalities with information on compliance assistance efforts.
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A recent EPA enforcement action against a Rhode Island metals company shows agency inspectors delving deeper into facility processes, traditionally a focus of OSHA oversight, to bring complex cases, increasing civil, and potentially criminal liability, though it is unclear whether the Trump EPA will continue the approach, say attorneys who track enforcement of industrial facility safety rules.
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Environmentalists that have brought the first legal challenges to new EPA rules issued under the recently revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) have filed separate suits that sidestep the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, likely due to concerns that the court, which hears most challenges to EPA rules, would be more receptive to agency arguments.
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Environmentalists are amending their lawsuit challenging the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which Republicans used this year to repeal Obama-era worker safety policies, to add claims that it is unconstitutionally vague for the law to bar OSHA and other agencies from crafting new rules that are “substantially the same” as the repealed rules.
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Public interest groups are fighting the Department of Justice's (DOJ) novel claim that showing harm to the groups' ability to comment on regulatory repeals is not enough to give them standing to sue over President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) directing agencies to identify two rules to repeal for every new rule they issue, countering that DOJ's argument would limit citizens' ability to challenge a host of constitutional violations.
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OSHA is investigating a “potential compromise” of its electronic portal for accepting companies' worker injury and illness data under the Obama administration's controversial record-keeping rule, highlighting companies' fears over data disclosures under the rule.
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A panel convened to inform a future EPA rule for reducing reporting for certain chemicals' uses is split on whether to eliminate long-standing exemptions for certain uses, with industry arguing the move would duplicate OSHA oversight and environmentalists saying the exemptions lack scientific basis, though EPA is seeking compromise to sustain talks.
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