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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
EPA has found that the once-common solvent carbon tetrachloride does not pose unreasonable risk to directly exposed workers or the environment, though other workers may face risk, says a just-released draft assessment the agency conducted under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).