Manufacturers that use nanomaterials in their products are urging the Trump administration to repeal the Obama EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule that requires reporting on their use of the materials, charging it is burdensome and unclear and appears inconsistent with the EPA's plans for allocating limited resources and assessing risks under the revised TSCA.
September 17, 2026
Chemical and other manufacturers are urging the Trump administration to rescind or revise numerous Obama-era OSHA policies, ranging from an overhaul of limits for worker exposure to silica to a Justice Department (DOJ) plan strengthening enforcement of worker safety laws, arguing the policies harm businesses or are unnecessary.
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The Justice Department (DOJ), backed by 14 state attorneys general (AG), is seeking to dismiss labor and environmental groups' lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) that requires OSHA and other agencies to repeal two rules for every new one, though plaintiffs are publicly faulting the administration's arguments.
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Even as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt seeks to delay implementation of the Obama-era facility safety rule, a coalition of local emergency planners is urging the agency to quickly implement provisions of the rule, arguing new requirements for coordinating with and disclosing data to local planners protect first responders and will not cause the broad public disclosure industry fears.
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NIOSH is seeking comment on a draft guide detailing a chemical classification system that allows users to assess workers' risks to substances that lack exposure limits and regulators have only limited data, an approach that could serve as an alternative to OSHA's enforceable limits given the difficulty in setting such standards.
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A federal appeals court has granted chimney sweepers' request for a two-month delay of their lawsuit challenging the Obama OSHA's final rule aimed at limiting workers' slips, trips and falls to allow for settlement discussions and Trump administration review, though another group's effort to settle its challenge to the rule has not succeeded.
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OSHA enforcement officials are lying low as the Trump administration ramps up plans for cutting government programs and staff at the Labor Department (DOL) and other agencies, sources say, declining to test novel enforcement approaches or issue citations for alleged violations of the Obama OSHA's worker injury reporting rule.
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Environmentalists, labor and community groups are seeking to intervene in industry groups' stayed lawsuits challenging EPA's facility accident prevention rule, arguing they will be harmed by weakening or vacating the rule and that the agency is unlikely to adequately represent their interests given Administrator Scott Pruitt's past opposition.
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Firefighters, nurses and other groups are urging OSHA to pursue a standard requiring healthcare and social assistance employers to craft policies for preventing workplace violence, a rule the Obama OSHA committed to pursuing, but that employers have said is unlikely to advance given the Trump administration's deregulatory efforts, and are seeking to narrow its scope.
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A poultry processing facility is urging federal judges to reject OSHA's appeal of a lower court's ruling that held the agency lacks authority to expand an inspection beyond the circumstances of an employee's injury, faulting OSHA arguments that the company's injury reporting provided “reasonable suspicion” of a possible violation.
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OSHA is postponing by three months the enforcement of construction industry compliance with the Obama administration's final rule overhauling the agency's limits for workers' exposure to silica, saying it is crafting additional guidance for employers given “the unique nature” of the rule's requirements for the construction sector.
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Chemical manufacturers are urging the Commerce Department (DOC) to curtail Obama-era EPA guidance backing prompt action at sites contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE) to protect workers and others from the solvent's novel risk of cardiac birth defects, arguing the guidance unnecessarily raises costs and is scientifically unjustified.
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EPA's proposed rule seeking to ban certain uses of the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) is prompting competing claims over the merits of the plan, with some business groups calling it unjustified and urging its withdrawal while others including worker safety groups say the benefits of the ban will be greater than EPA projects.
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President Donald Trump has repealed OSHA's final rule clarifying that employers face a “continuing obligation” to record worker injuries, part of a broad federal effort to roll back Obama-era rules under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) and other authorities that his staff say will continue even after the window for such action closes later this month.
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A federal judge has granted OSHA's request to stay for two months a lawsuit builders, petrochemical manufacturers and other industries filed against the Obama administration's final rule updating the agency's worker injury and illness record-keeping program, but the judge sidestepped industry requests to delay the rule's initial July 1 compliance date.
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With Congress facing an early May deadline to approve resolutions undoing Obama-era rules, industry and others are raising doubts over whether lawmakers will act in the coming weeks on a pending resolution that would undo changes to the agency's facility safety program, a rule that the Trump EPA is seeking to delay an additional 20 months.
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EPA is proposing to delay by an additional 20 months -- from June 19 to Feb. 19, 2019 -- the effective date of the Obama administration's final rule overhauling the agency's industrial facility accident prevention program, citing the need for more time to weigh potential revisions to the rule in response to requests from industry and some states.
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Industry attorneys are suggesting the Trump administration is already shifting OSHA toward greater emphasis on compliance assistance over the Obama administration's support for enforcement actions, citing a recent press release and other agency material that calls for employers to review voluntary safety and health plans.
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Industry attorneys say OSHA is likely a prime deregulatory target for the Trump administration, expecting incoming Labor Department (DOL) leadership to curtail funding for enforcement, rescind rules under deregulatory orders, and drop defense of regulations facing legal challenges.
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NIOSH is seeking an enforceable OSHA standard requiring healthcare employers to craft policies for preventing workplace violence that include thresholds for reporting violent incidents, staff-to-patient ratios, and a hierarchy of controls approach to preventing violence, though progress on such a rule under the Trump administration is uncertain.
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