EPA appears to be advancing a new argument to dismiss part of environmentalists’ suit over the agency’s denial of their petition to require more reporting about the uses of asbestos in the United States that could also provide a defense against a new trial in a second, nearly identical petition case from states.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in a ruling on the government’s liver transplant policy has avoided weighing in applying the Supreme Court’s test for when to defer to OSHA and other agencies in interpreting their regulatory authority, but does embrace the high court’s instruction to first look for a clear answer in the law.
A federal judge has once again handed a blow to EPA in its effort to defend its denial of public health advocates’ petition urging the agency to ban drinking water fluoridation, in this instance denying EPA’s request to delay the trial schedule by 65 days to extend limited expert discovery, a request the judge considered unnecessary and prejudicial to the plaintiffs.
A federal judge is asking EPA and environmentalists to respond to a set of questions in a potentially precedent-setting Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) case after an agency lawyer sought to clarify statements she made during recent oral arguments but instead raised new doubts about the agency’s stances on key issues and the suit’s procedural posture.
Worker and other safety advocates are warning they might sue the Agriculture Department (USDA) over its just-issued rule easing swine slaughter inspection requirements and increasing line speeds, arguing the measure will increase risks to workers that already face some of the highest workplace injury rates in the country.
Labor and other groups are threatening to sue EPA over allegations that the agency is inadequately releasing information about new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), detailing concerns that they will likely urge the agency to address as it prepares to release a new framework for its new chemicals review process.
Administration efforts to address lead-paint dust in residential settings are facing wide-ranging criticisms, with EPA’s Inspector General (IG) charging the program lacks goals or ways to track progress and the agency’s advisors and environmentalists questioning why the agency has yet to update its lead dust clearance standards for contractors.
EPA is claiming immunity from dozens of pending tort claims over its role in a 2015 wastewater spill because its employees went through OSHA’s training program for hazardous-waste handling, teeing up a district court ruling on how much training federal employees must receive to protect their agencies from liability should a disaster occur.
Public health groups are defending their legal standing to sue OSHA over its rollback of Obama-era electronic reporting and recordkeeping requirements, saying the changes will injure them by hindering their ability to gather federally reported data on workplace injuries.
Federal appellate judges, in a split decision on an EPA policy memo, are outlining competing tests for how judges should assess whether OSHA and other agency guidance is a “final action” subject to court review, with the majority acknowledging that the decision is likely to spark a debate in this “somewhat gnarled field of jurisprudence.”