Appellate judges have scrapped former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's rule delaying by almost two years implementation of Obama-era facility safety requirements after finding the delay made a “mockery” of Clean Air Act mandates, the latest in a string of legal losses for the agency in suits filed over Pruitt delays of Obama EPA policies.

Appellate judges have scrapped former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's rule delaying by almost two years implementation of Obama-era facility safety requirements after finding the delay made a “mockery” of Clean Air Act mandates, the latest in a string of legal losses for the agency in suits filed over Pruitt delays of Obama EPA policies.

Democratic lawmakers and public interest groups are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to scrap a recently announced policy allowing poultry plants to seek waivers from existing line speed limits, arguing the plan undermines USDA's denial of an industry request for broader waivers, and jeopardizes worker safety.

Democratic lawmakers and public interest groups are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to scrap a recently announced policy allowing poultry plants to seek waivers from existing line speed limits, arguing the plan undermines USDA's denial of an industry request for broader waivers, and jeopardizes worker safety.

Industry attorneys are welcoming EPA's recent approval of a new chemical that took a narrow view of the substance's “reasonably foreseen uses” that the agency is required to consider, but are urging officials to clarify whether the approach is intended to apply more broadly to agency reviews of other new chemicals under the revised toxics law.

EPA has approved a new chemical for use under the revised toxics law but has limited its review and regulation of the substance's “reasonably foreseen uses,” a move environmentalists say signals a “reckless” process for reviewing new chemicals that violates the June 2016 toxics law by failing to preclude unintended uses from its requirements.

A three-judge federal appellate panel appeared skeptical during recent oral argument of a construction company's challenge to OSHA's “controlling employer” policy, suggesting the agency should be granted deference to interpret its authority and that officials are better positioned than courts to interpret ambiguous statutes.

Democratic lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule seeking to scrap most requirements of an Obama-era final rule strengthening EPA's facility accident prevention program, arguing the rollback would increase facility risks that disproportionately harm minority and low-income communities.

The Labor Department's (DOL) Inspector General has launched an audit of OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program (WPP) in several Western states after mounting pressure from years of audits related to a major Wells Fargo prosecution as well as internal complaints from a former agency investigator.

The Labor Department's (DOL) Inspector General has launched an audit of OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program (WPP) in several Western states after mounting pressure from years of audits related to a major Wells Fargo prosecution as well as internal complaints from a former agency investigator.