Lowe's hardware store chain is planning to phase out paint strippers containing methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) from its global product selection by the end of the year, an announcement that comes days after EPA reversed course and pledged to complete a landmark Obama-era rule regulating similar uses of the chemical.
Vanessa Allen Sutherland, who the Obama administration appointed to lead the federal board that investigates industrial chemical accidents, announced unexpectedly May 21 that she will be resigning from the board next month, though it is not clear if or who President Trump will select to fill two vacant slots on the panel given his administration's push to eliminate it.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) recent guidance calling for product labels to warn of acute inhalation hazards of paint strippers containing methylene chloride could give EPA an alternative to calls for a first-time ban on some uses of the substance, such as industry calls to promote risk management options.
Amid lobbying by families of consumers and workers killed from exposure to the paint-stripper chemical methylene chloride, EPA has reversed course, saying it now intends to soon finalize an Obama-era rule expected to ban certain uses of the substance, though environmentalists are cautioning that the final rule should preserve the proposed ban.
The Trump administration's upcoming defense of EPA rules implementing the recently revised toxics law will mark one of the first substantive tests for how well new regulations will withstand legal scrutiny after the agency suffered a series of early court losses as they sought to defend other regulatory delays and officials are scrambling to correct perceived flaws in several draft rules.
Anticipating procedural challenges from EPA, environmentalists are making the case that an appellate court should consider the merits of their litigation challenging the agency's framework for reviewing new chemicals, charging the policy has the effect of a legislative rule, was issued without following proper rulemaking procedure, and should be vacated.
A key labor union is offering a tepid response to OSHA's settlement with industry groups that would narrow aspects of the Obama-era beryllium rule's general industry requirements, but is expressing concerns about future deals that may seek a broader rollback of the rule's requirements for maritime and shipyard industries.
OSHA has agreed with several industry petitioners to clarify language regarding the ancillary provisions of its Obama-era beryllium rule for general industry and further delay the rule's compliance dates, according to a just-filed proposed settlement, but the rulemaking faces a steep deadline to begin amending the regulation before a May 11 compliance deadline.
Breaking from efforts to reverse various of the previous administration's initiatives, the Trump OSHA appears to be retaining on its website an annotated occupational chemical exposure limit table and stringent guidance language that was a product of an Obama-era effort to bolster the agency's chemical oversight.
Environmentalists have filed their opening brief in their suit challenging EPA's “framework” rules for prioritizing and assessing existing chemicals for possible regulation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), arguing the rules violate a requirement to conduct a holistic review that considers all of a chemical's uses.