The AFL-CIO is again seeking approval to intervene in litigation over EPA’s TSCA rule for methylene chloride to defend the policy, saying the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has set a “quite low” bar for the step by granting a parallel bid from industry, even after it also denied the union’s first request earlier this month.
September 16, 2026
EPA’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) has published a divided -- and often critical -- review of the draft TSCA evaluation of formaldehyde that calls for some significant changes to its risk calculations while stressing that the several agency offices reviewing the ubiquitous chemical should be working in concert.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has approved a bid from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to defend portions of EPA’s rule setting worker-protection and other mandates for use of the solvent methylene chloride while denying a parallel request from the AFL-CIO, giving the industry group an equal role with EPA in the case.
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OSHA’s updated hazard communication standard (HCS) appears set to reach a July 19 deadline for legal challenges with no known industry suits that might seek to reverse its newly tightened chemical-labeling mandates -- a move that one industry attorney says appears to be driven by manufacturers’ focus on litigating EPA’s TSCA rules instead.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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