California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) has made a series of amendments easing her controversial bill that would lock into state law Obama-era worker safety and other rules, but the changes are failing to fully address industry opposition, setting up the potential for more talks and further changes.
Long-running divisions between OSHA and other agencies over how to assess the risks of the ubiquitous solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) have been thrown into stark relief as a federal health agency is backing EPA’s 2011 assessment setting strict risk values for the chemical.
Cal/OSHA is scheduled later this month to approve first-time emergency rules to protect outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, which could serve as a model for other states that lack such measures and are also experiencing increasing numbers and intensity of fires due in part to climate change.
EPA has found that the ubiquitous solvent 1,4 dioxane poses risks to workers “in certain circumstances,” according to a newly released draft evaluation, opening the door to new workplace protections or limits on the chemical’s use under its revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority.
The Supreme Court’s decision faulting the Commerce Department for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census based on a “contrived” post hoc pretext could bolster lawsuits targeting the Trump OSHA’s rule rollbacks, such as the pending case over its recordkeeping rule, where challengers say officials ignored or misrepresented the record.
The Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote has preserved the long-standing doctrine that mandates judicial deference to OSHA and other agencies’ “reasonable” readings of ambiguities in their rules, but the majority’s emphasis on the doctrine’s limits prompted conservative justices to warn the test has been so weakened it may as well be “zombified."
Facing a court deadline, the Trump administration has issued a final rule that codifies its earlier plans to strengthen its standards identifying hazards contractors and others face from lead paint dust in residences while declining to adopt a new definition of “lead paint,” an approach that appears likely to draw a suit from groups who criticized the proposed version of the plans.
Facing a court deadline, the Trump administration has issued a final rule that codifies its earlier plans to strengthen its standards identifying hazards contractors and others face from lead paint dust in residences while declining to adopt a new definition of “lead paint,” an approach that appears likely to draw a suit from groups who criticized the proposed version of the plans.
Advisors reviewing EPA’s first draft chemical risk evaluation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) have raised sharp concerns about several aspects of the draft assessment of pigment violet 29 (PV29), with some urging officials to gather more data on risks to workers and others because the draft does not support its threshold finding that the chemical doesn’t require risk management.
Advisors reviewing EPA’s first draft chemical risk evaluation under the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) have raised sharp concerns about several aspects of the draft assessment of pigment violet 29 (PV29), with some urging officials to gather more data on risks to workers and others because the draft does not support its threshold finding that the chemical doesn’t require risk management.