Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says that “ongoing and fragile negotiations” continue between House and Senate lawmakers on trying to craft a final compromise Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill that could advance in both chambers, adding that administration officials have been offering support in the long-running bid for a deal.
September 17, 2026
The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) is urging Congress to block OSHA's silica rule until the agency has reconsidered the measure's impacts on small businesses, a call that at least one key Republican lawmaker signaled he is prepared to support.
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House lawmakers and federal appellate judges are beginning to scrutinize OSHA's high-profile rule limiting silica exposures in workplaces, with a House panel slated to hear from the rule's critics and the judicial branch consolidating early challenges to the rule in a federal appellate court in Washington, DC.
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An appeals court has scheduled oral argument for May 16 in the agricultural industry's lawsuit seeking to block OSHA's policy narrowing a “retail” exemption to the agency's process safety management (PSM) program, a change industry argues failed to follow proper rulemaking procedure, but that OSHA says is merely a new interpretation of an existing rule.
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NIOSH and other federal agencies are taking comment on separate efforts to assess the risks of 1-Bromopropane (1-BP), a widely used chemical solvent, assessments that could open the door to new regulatory mandates to limit risks to workers and pregnant women that may be vulnerable to the chemical's adverse effects.
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Top political and career officials in EPA's toxics office say changes during the last few years to the “existing” chemicals management program will ease the agency's ability to implement a pending Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill, but some observers question whether the agency is taking sufficient steps to prepare for the reform effort.
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OSHA in a recent letter of interpretation (LOI) has clarified aspects of its policy for enforcing the agency's updated 2012 Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) after industry groups raised concerns about shipping existing stocks of covered chemicals that were already packaged and labeled to comply with the old rule before the new HCS took effect.
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Industry officials are reiterating calls for the Obama administration to narrow the scope of its pending regulation that will require companies to submit data on nanomaterials' chemical properties, data that will help OSHA, EPA and other agencies determine the scope and reach of future regulatory requirements.
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Farmworker and other advocates are urging EPA to ban seven organophosphate (OP) pesticides to prevent neurodevelopmental risks to children and "egregious" risks to the workers, though manufacturers say the agency should halt regulatory action on the substances, arguing officials failed to vet its process for using epidemiological data in risk reviews, according to recently filed comments.
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A coalition of major labor groups is suing OSHA over its controversial rule setting new standards to limit occupational exposures to crystaline silica, suggesting they may push to strengthen the regulation even as industry groups argue the measure is unlawful because it is technologically and economically unachievable.
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Just days after its promulgation, OSHA's rule setting strict new standards for crystaline silica has drawn at least three separate appellate challenges from various industry groups, launching a process that will allow the groups to make the case that the new exposure limits that are at the heart of the rule are economically and technologically unachievable.
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Growing efforts by the Obama administration to strengthen chemical data disclosure requirements could increase companies' risks of enforcement actions or private litigation for potential Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) violations, says an industry attorney, who argues that efforts to reform TSCA could further increase companies' risk of such actions.
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A bipartisan group of 42 House lawmakers is backing calls by a broad coalition of agriculture industry groups that is seeking to continue a legislative prohibition on OSHA's controversial policy narrowing its interpretation of when facilities are eligible for the agency's “retail” exemption from process safety management (PSM) rules.
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Facing industry litigation and congressional criticisms, OSHA has delayed until the end of the 2016 fiscal year implementation of its controversial policy for determining threshold concentrations for when some so-called Appendix A chemicals are subject to the agency's process safety management (PSM) standard for highly hazardous chemicals.
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The American Petroleum Institute (API) is urging EPA to defer to OSHA on revising rules to improve the safety of industrial facilities, and to delay updates to its own accident prevention rule until OSHA completes planned revisions to its Process Safety Management Program (PSM) standard.
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A top official is offering a strong defense of the Obama administration's risk management plan (RMP) facility accident prevention program, suggesting that the proposal will not be overhauled as advocates, industry groups and others called for at a March 29 public hearing.
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Chemical sector officials are upbeat on prospects for Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation clearing Congress this year, even as states ramp up efforts to approve legislation that would give them more power to regulate chemicals, intensifying the patchwork of state efforts that has helped drive calls to overhaul the federal law.
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OSHA has scheduled a public meeting where it will formally launch its effort to craft a separate safety guideline for the construction sector, a step the agency is taking after hearing from both home builders and labor unions that it's draft industry-wide safety guideline was confusing for the sector and required input from a special advisory panel.
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After decades of work, OSHA has issued its long-awaited final rule strengthening silica exposure standards in most industries, but the measure will almost certainly face legal challenges from industry groups and their allies in Congress, who have long sought to block or soften any new requirements.
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A group of industry lawyers is welcoming OSHA's recently issued “safe harbor” policy that limits employers' liability for actions uncovered under an agency-ordered rapid response investigation (RRI) but they are nevertheless urging employers to proceed cautiously, noting that the policy is not binding, requires clarification and does not protect employers in cases where “serious hazard” is discovered, among other things.
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