EPA is drawing criticism from its children's health advisors and a Region 9 official over its decision to preclude legacy uses of chemicals, such as asbestos, in finished products from review under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), bolstering criticisms from environmentalists who say they may sue the agency over its approach.
September 17, 2026
Labor groups are signaling that they plan to challenge the Trump OSHA's plan to delay the initial reporting deadline for the Obama administration's worker injury and illness reporting rule, arguing it violates federal law and harms workers, while employers are seeking an indefinite delay pending revisions to the rule and calling for cutting certain provisions.
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Industry officials are urging OSHA to give companies a greater role in the agency's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), including recruiting new member companies, signing off on company data, and possibly conducting audits, though union officials question whether the program is reaching the most dangerous job sites and should be expanded.
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EPA's suite of early rules under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will inform efforts to reduce risks to workers appear ripe for legal challenges from environmentalists, the chemical industry and other sectors, sources say, due to initial divided reaction to the rules and the massive scope of regulatory provisions in the complex policies.
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House lawmakers have advanced a draft fiscal year 2018 spending bill that would cut OSHA by more than what the Trump administration requested, drawing pushback from worker safety advocates, though appropriators also have proposed retaining the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which the administration has sought to eliminate.
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Environmentalists challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's nearly two-year delay of an Obama-era facility safety rule are citing Pruitt's prior opposition to the rule while serving as Oklahoma's GOP attorney general (AG) as evidence that he has an “unalterably closed mind” on the rule and that the delay is unlawful.
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EPA is claiming broad Clean Air Act authority for its final rule that significantly delays implementation of Obama-era revisions to the agency's facility safety policy, saying its decision to first seek public comment on the delay shields it from the legal uncertainty that led an appellate court to recently vacate a stay of an unrelated air rule.
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Several Republican-led states are seeking to intervene to defend EPA against environmentalists' lawsuit challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's 20-month delay of Obama-era facility safety rule revisions, arguing that scrapping the delay would result in immediate costs to states, and that they have unique interests in defending the delay.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) says that plaintiffs cannot prove injury to justify their suit over the legality of President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) requiring OSHA, EPA, and other agencies to identify two rules for repeal for every new rule they issue, saying that undoing the rules would not cause harm warranting the lawsuit.
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A former OSHA deputy chief is faulting the Trump EPA's delay of Obama-era revisions to the Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program, saying the agency's justification for the stay is “totally frivolous” -- criticisms that could bolster environmental and labor groups' lawsuit challenging the delay.
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An industry attorney and a former Obama OSHA official expect the Trump administration will soon propose to strip so-called anti-retaliation provisions from the agency's injury and illness record-keeping rule, while allowing new reporting requirements to stand, though the industry source says the Trump OSHA is unlikely to publicize the data.
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As EPA issues a trio of framework rules to implement the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will inform future efforts to reduce risks to workers from chemical exposures, observers say the bipartisan law still faces a host of legal, budgetary, political, technological and other challenges that will test its durability and future success.
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Nanomaterial users and producers are urging the Trump EPA to further delay and overhaul an Obama administration nanotech reporting rule, arguing that the agency's recent draft guidance on the rule fails to adequately clarify compliance obligations and saying EPA's delays of other Obama-era rules help to justify their request on the nano rule.
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OSHA's Region 5 has proposed more than $600,000 in penalties for a steel plant alleged to have exposed workers to excessive levels of silica and other hazards, as the Trump administration is weighing an industry petition to roll back Obama-era protections for exposure to the substance.
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A federal judge has rejected labor and public health groups' requests to intervene in industry's lawsuit challenging the Obama OSHA's final rule updating the agency's worker injury and illness reporting program, ruling that the agency appears slated to defend the groups' interests, though the order allows future requests should the agency's position change.
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Labor Secretary (DOL) Alex Acosta is defending the Trump administration's plan to cut OSHA enforcement funds in favor of compliance assistance, arguing that assisting companies may yield greater workplace safety results in certain cases.
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EPA has released three “framework” rules to address “existing” chemicals under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will inform future federal efforts to reduce risks to workers, though EPA scaled back the final versions, underscoring industry's influence and drawing criticism from environmentalists, who suggested they will sue.
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The Trump administration is proposing to limit the reach of the Obama OSHA's final beryllium rule by stripping protections from the rule's oversight of the construction and shipyard sectors while retaining the new exposure limit for the sectors, arguing that the Obama rule is based on limited data on how other standards protect workers in the sectors.
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Environmental and labor groups are asking a federal court to stay EPA's nearly two-year delay of an Obama-era rule strengthening the agency's facility accident prevention program, charging the delay is “plainly illegal” under the Clean Air Act and would irreparably harm their interests given past agency findings that chemical accidents continue to occur.
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Labor groups are seeking to intervene in support of environmentalists' challenge to the Trump administration's lengthy delay of an Obama-era facility safety rule, arguing that the delay irreparably harms workers and that environmentalists may not fully represent workers, who have a “distinct perspective” on the facilities where they work.
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