Daily News

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.

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.

Correction Appended

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.

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.

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.

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EPA to further delay and overhaul an Obama administration nanotech reporting rule, arguing that the agency's recent draft guidance on the rule fails to adequately clarify compliance obligations and saying EPA's delays of other Obama-era rules help to justify their request on the nano rule.

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.

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.

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.

And in a move that may further limit OSHA enforcement, Acosta highlighted to senators that the department has dropped an Obama-era guidance on determining when companies qualify as “joint employers,” which expanded the reach of DOL enforcement efforts.

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.

“Changes have been made that significantly weaken the proposed rules, in some cases in ways that are contrary to the new law,” Richard Denison, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said in a statement.

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.

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.

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.

Critics of EPA's proposed ban on certain uses of trichlorothylene (TCE) are faulting the Obama administration's conclusion that TCE causes human cancers and are calling on the Trump administration to assess new data from worker safety studies released since EPA's 2011 Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) review of the chemical.

Public health groups are seeking to intervene in industry's lawsuit challenging the Obama OSHA's May 2016 final rule overhauling the agency's worker injury and illness reporting program, charging the Trump administration likely will not defend a provision calling for public disclosure of injury data, which the groups say is mandatory.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed review of a Trump administration proposed rule widely expected to weaken an Obama OSHA regulation that strengthened protections for worker exposure to beryllium, possibly by stripping the construction and maritime industries from the rule's scope.

A coalition of environmental and public interest groups are challenging EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's recently-issued rule delaying for an additional 20 months the agency's Obama-era facility safety regulation, and appear slated to argue that the lengthy delay violates federal law and will put workers and communities at risk of future disasters.

Chemical industry groups are urging NIOSH to clarify that a draft chemicals classification guide that allows users to assess workers' risks to substances that lack exposure limits with limited data will not be used to strengthen standards for other chemicals or replace OSHA standards, though a labor group says the process could inform future regulation.

Labor unions are defending their claim that they have a right to intervene in an industry lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's final rule updating the agency's worker injury and illness reporting regulation, fearing the Trump administration will not adequately represent their interests in a rule that provides “specific, new rights” for workers.

EPA is suggesting it plans to make significant changes to an Obama-era facility safety rule, arguing in its announcement delaying the regulation for an additional 20 months that the rule is based on “policy preferences” that could vary between administrations, and that the agency intends to raise concerns with the rule not cited in industry petitions.