EPA’s draft risk evaluation of the common solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) finds multiple uses present unreasonable risks to exposed workers and consumers under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), even though the agency declined to use a controversial study indicating potential for congenital heart defects that industry has long disputed.
September 17, 2026
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has rejected a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for details on a hog slaughter facility’s application to use a new USDA inspection program that critics say will hurt workers’ safety, highlighting a lack of public data on the process that is central to a pending worker safety challenge to the program.
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EPA’s toxics chief says the agency is grappling with how to obtain more data about chemicals from companies while having limited ability to protect it as confidential business information (CBI) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), an issue industry sources say limits companies’ interest and ability to share studies with EPA.
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OSHA has launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to focus its resources on enforcing silica standards for manufacturing, construction and several other industries, while also requiring states to adopt the NEP in order to identify and reduce or eliminate worker exposures to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in the affected sectors.
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Following the lead set by OHSA’s effort to bolster enforcement, the Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA) is ramping up its worker safety compliance efforts, raising the civil penalties that it can impose against mine owners, and touting the fact that compliance outreach efforts have led to a major drop in annual mining fatalities.
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In a rare moment of agreement, the chemical industry and environmentalists are generally urging the Trump administration to provide more transparency into the actions of its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) new chemicals review program, though the two sides are targeting different aspects of the program for increased transparency.
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OSHA is fighting a refining company’s legal bid to limit the “substantial continuity” test used to determine a new company owner’s liability for violations of agency policies, urging a federal appeals court to find that five violations by the refiner were “repeat” and subject to stricter penalties rather than stand-alone “serious” violations.
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OSHA, EPA and other state and federal agencies are taking steps to protect healthcare and other workers against potential exposure from the deadly coronavirus, including OSHA’s suggestion that some existing standards might apply to preventing occupational exposure and EPA issuing guidance on using disinfectants to help limit the spread of diseases.
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Even as EPA rolls back its facility safety rules, the White House is proposing to eliminate fiscal year 2021 funding for two key chemical safety programs -- the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, worrying industry officials who fear the plan will undermine protections.
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OSHA’s budget faces a slight cut from $581.2 million down to $576.8 million in President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2021 funding proposal, but the plan also includes small targeted funding increases for a host of agency programs including enforcement, compliance assistance, whistleblower programs, and more.
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EPA will “probably” do a supplemental risk evaluation on legacy uses of asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), according to the agency’s toxics chief, in an effort to address the recent appellate decision requiring officials to assess such uses while not delaying work agency staff have already done analyzing asbestos' ongoing uses.
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Facing legal and administrative deadlines, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has finalized a first-time rule that mandates reports from chemical facilities in the wake of accidental chemical releases, despite industry claims that the rule is unnecessary or that the board should rely on other accident reports that facilities submit to other federal entities such as EPA or OSHA.
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EPA is defending its first-time toxics rule banning consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride from dual challenges filed by a chemical industry group and a coalition of labor and environmental groups, charging the industry claims fail on the merits while the coalition’s arguments are “unripe” and “unreviewable.”
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Pressure is mounting on Congress to put aside partisan differences and reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program before it expires in April, pressure that is likely to rise in the wake of EPA’s rollback of its related Risk Management Plan (RMP) program.
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A federal district court judge at a recent hearing questioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its justification for not including worker safety provisions in its revised swine slaughter facility inspection rule, according to a Public Citizen attorney who is suing over the rule for failing to protect against increased risks to facility workers.
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A federal appeals court is slated to hear arguments this spring in a case in which OSHA is challenging a decision by its review panel that raised the bar for when the agency can cite a company for “repeat” violations of workplace safety requirements and impose stricter penalties than for non-repeat “serious” violations.
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EPA has declined to seek en banc rehearing of the recent appellate ruling that requires the agency to consider chemicals’ “legacy uses” in its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) evaluations, and a spokesman says the agency is now considering issuing supplemental analyses for some already issued evaluations to account for the court’s requirement.
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Senators are warning that the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) risks losing its quorum when one of its two current member’s terms expires next week and are calling for the Senate to quickly vote on a pending Trump administration nominee, though the vote appears to have stalled amid partisan wrangling.
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EPA has released preliminary lists of thousands of companies that may have to cover the costs of assessing the next 20 chemicals the agency will begin evaluating this year under the revised toxics law, leaving companies wondering how much of the up to $1.35 million per chemical they will be charged when the list is finalized.
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An Oklahoma refiner is urging a federals appeals court to scrap an OSHA review panel’s decision upholding an agency enforcement action against an Oklahoma refiner for alleged process safety management (PSM) standard violations, a finding that industry officials say unfairly and “dramatically” expands the PSM rule’s reach.
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