Chemical Safety

Environmentalists are asking an appellate court in Washington, DC, to allow them to intervene in industry’s challenge to EPA’s ban on consumer uses of paint-stripping products containing methylene chloride (MC), a move that may ultimately lead the case to be consolidated with environmentalists’ separate suit in an appellate court in New York.

Labor and other groups are urging EPA science advisors ahead of their upcoming meeting to examine whether the agency provided adequate data for its draft conclusion that pigment violet 29 (PV29) does not pose unreasonable risk to workers and other exposed populations, stepping up their long-running effort to challenge EPA’s first assessment of an existing chemical under the revised toxics law.

Environmental and labor groups are suggesting they will sue the agency if it proceeds with its proposed training program for commercial users of paint-stripping products containing methylene chloride, charging the agency has failed to justify its approach after the Obama administration found the chemical posed unreasonable risks to workers.

EPA has approved an alternative disposal method for asbestos-containing pipe under the agency’s air toxics rules for asbestos, despite a labor group’s concerns that the new practice might not comply with OSHA requirements.

A chemical industry trade association is suing EPA over its first-time Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ban on consumer uses of paint-strippers containing methylene chloride, charging the measure goes too far by unintentionally limiting access to some commercial uses even though it does not intend to.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Group (ADAO) is urging EPA to perform a strict assessment of asbestos’ human health risk, citing in part findings by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and others that there is no safe level of exposure to the toxic mineral as some fear EPA will soften its analysis.

EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (NEJAC) is urging the agency to halt proposed rollbacks of an Obama-era rule strengthening safety requirements at industrial facilities as well as its risk assessment of the solvent ethylene oxide (EtO), warning that the efforts could increase public health risks for poor and minority communities.

Appellate judges appear to agree with EPA lawyers that labor and other groups generally lack standing to challenge the agency's framework rule for evaluating risks of existing chemicals under the revised toxics law, but they left the door open to sue over officials' decision to preclude legacy uses from the scope of any evaluation.

On the eve of a key appellate hearing, EPA and environmentalists are sparring over the groups' standing to challenge one of EPA's framework rules for implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), responding to a court order that asks the parties to address the issue in the upcoming oral arguments.

A labor union attorney says environmental statutes' citizen suit provisions could give workers a powerful tool in their fight to reduce their exposures to hazardous chemicals, because laws such as the Clean Air Act impose much greater penalties for violations that increase exposures compared to workplace safety statutes.