Top officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency that was responsible for the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program before Congress allowed it to expire last year say facilities previously subject to the program are now facing “increasing” physical and cyber threats from a variety of hostile actors.
Chemical-sector groups suing EPA over its rule overhauling the requirements for TSCA risk evaluations of existing chemicals are previewing broad arguments that the rule is unlawful or even unconstitutional, though they are not yet naming specific provisions they will seek to overturn.
Unions and a worker-protection group are signaling that their suit over EPA’s rule setting out requirements for chemical risk evaluations will target a single provision allowing the agency to consider data on companies’ use of protective equipment in its reviews -- a narrow focus despite the rule’s broad swath of policy changes.
Sources with the chemicals industry say they are again looking for fresh legislative avenues to reauthorize the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program after an amendment that would have added it to the annual defense authorization bill failed to reach the House floor.
EPA has formally published its proposed TSCA risk management rule for the solvent n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), starting a 45-day comment period that will close on July 29 as the agency seeks to finalize restrictions on the chemical’s use that it says are designed to protect industrial and commercial workers from chronic exposure.
A federal judicial panel has chosen the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review EPA’s redone “framework” rule governing TSCA risk evaluations of existing chemicals -- a victory for labor groups that sought to challenge it there, and a loss for industry groups that favored the conservative 5th Circuit instead.
EPA is proposing to ban the solvent n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) in fertilizers, lubricants and a handful of other products while setting strict new requirements for its continued use in other sectors, including both workplace exposure limits and product restrictions designed to protect consumers in its latest TSCA chemical risk-management rule.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has opened interagency review of EPA’s final TSCA rule governing perchloroethylene (PCE), setting up a renewed battle among stakeholders over the agency’s proposal to ban PCE in many sectors, while imposing strict exposure limits in others and a decade-long phaseout of the solvent for dry-cleaning.
A group representing occupational and environmental health specialists is raising doubts on key elements of EPA’s proposal to gather existing but unpublished “health and safety studies” on chemicals it floated last fall as candidates for TSCA prioritization, including the value of unpublished data and how occupational monitoring data aligns with EPA’s needs.
Industry groups and attorneys say OSHA’s newly finalized revisions to the hazard communication standard (HCS) still pose serious “hurdles” for chemical manufacturers and users, even after the agency rewrote a controversial requirement for safety labels to address dangers posed by downstream uses of toxic or hazardous substances.