A government watchdog group is petitioning EPA to phase out the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF) at oil refining facilities under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) authorities, the latest in a series of actions to curb the use of the highly corrosive substance following several “near miss” incidents.
September 17, 2026
EPA is claiming immunity from dozens of pending tort claims over its role in a 2015 wastewater spill because its employees went through OSHA’s training program for hazardous-waste handling, teeing up a district court ruling on how much training federal employees must receive to protect their agencies from liability should a disaster occur.
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As expected, EPA has formally declined to create new Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements to prevent or contain industrial chemical spills, dismissing calls from state emergency responders and environmentalists, who argued a rule is mandated by law and needed in the wake of a 2014 spill that closed the drinking water system in Charleston, WV.
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Public health groups are defending their legal standing to sue OSHA over its rollback of Obama-era electronic reporting and recordkeeping requirements, saying the changes will injure them by hindering their ability to gather federally reported data on workplace injuries.
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Federal appellate judges, in a split decision on an EPA policy memo, are outlining competing tests for how judges should assess whether OSHA and other agency guidance is a “final action” subject to court review, with the majority acknowledging that the decision is likely to spark a debate in this “somewhat gnarled field of jurisprudence.”
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Cal/OSHA is planning an advisory committee hearing to develop first-time construction worker safety rules pertaining to naturally occurring asbestos (NOA), with staff now conducting research to write a discussion draft for the meeting, officials say.
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Fearing a patchwork of strict state rules, a variety of consumer product manufacturers is urging EPA to expand its planned or ongoing risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in an effort to preempt states from regulating -- or banning -- certain chemicals’ uses.
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A pending challenge to a Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) liver transplant policy in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit may be the first appellate case to test the reach of judicial deference courts grant OSHA and other agencies to interpret their regulatory authority under the high court’s recent ruling on the issue.
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OSHA is publishing its request for information (RFI) seeking data on whether it should ease the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica, a measure that also opens the door to extending any deregulatory measures to standards covering maritime and general industry.
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Federal appeals court judges appeared doubtful at recent oral arguments of citizen groups’ suit aiming to revive Obama-era rules from OSHA and other agencies the GOP scrapped using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) in the early days of the Trump administration, questioning claims that the CRA is unconstitutional and the repeals were unlawful.
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Supreme Court observers expect lower courts to grant OSHA and other agencies narrower, agency-specific deference to interpret ambiguous regulatory language in the wake of the high court’s recent Kisor v, Wilkie ruling that generally preserved so-called Auer deference but reinforced limits on its use.
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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has quickly competed its review of OSHA’s draft request for information (RFI) that could help open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.
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The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) is dropping its appeal of a federal district court’s order for the board to issue by February a final rule requiring accidental release reporting from chemical facilities, reaffirming the board’s plan released this spring to comply with the order’s timeline.
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Cal/OSHA is continuing to advance its proposal to set a much more stringent airborne lead exposure limit for construction and other workers, following a compromise among state lawmakers to set a Sept. 30, 2020, deadline for the agency’s standards board to adopt the new risk level.
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AUSTIN, TX -- A top EPA waste official is vowing that the agency will soon send for White House pre-publication review its final rule to undo Obama-era changes that tightened facility safety risk management plan (RMP) requirements, a surprise move refuting environmentalists’ suggestions that the rollback was “dead in the water."
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Labor and other advocates are strongly criticizing EPA’s risk evaluations for a common solvent and a largely phased-out flame retardant for what they say is a gross understatement of the risks that workers face from exposure to the chemicals, in part because the agency assumes workers will use protective equipment.
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A former Labor Department (DOL) regional solicitor is blaming the U.S. opioid crisis in part on President George W. Bush’s backing of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapproval resolution that scrapped Clinton OSHA workplace ergonomics standards, saying the rules could have prevented many injuries that may have been treated with opioids.
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House Democrats’ bill to ban uses of asbestos appears to be advancing after state officials opened the door to a longer phase-out period for chlorine producers, but few involved in talks on the bill are discussing prospects that implementing any ban will eventually drive the sector to use an alternate technology that uses perflourinated chemicals.
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EPA is facing a possible suit from environmentalists after the agency rejected claims that a modified Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) significant new use rule (SNUR) for use of a specific chemical lacks adequate protections for oilfield workers that are exposed to the substance and any formaldehyde that may be associated with it.
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After months of delay, OSHA has formally submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a draft request for information (RFI) that could eventually open the door to easing implementation of the Obama administration’s rule requiring protective equipment for construction workers exposed to crystalline silica.
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