All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On January 28, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Year in Review: 2018 (YIR). The YIR lists the following accomplishments: The YIR provides the following “by the numbers” summary: Water As reported in our December 11, 2018, memorandum, “EPA Releases ‘Waters of the U.S.’ (WOTUS) Replacement Rule Proposal,” on December 11, 2018, EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced EPA’s and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) release of...

On January 29, 2019, Inside EPA quoted Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), in the article “EPA Faces New Backlog Of Chemical Applications After Shutdown Ends.” A draft framework the agency crafted in 2017 to speed PMN reviews drew widespread criticisms from environmentalists and others, forcing Wheeler to pledge late last year that the agency would reconsider the most recent draft review plan. But the shutdown will bring...

On January 28, 2019, Bloomberg Environment quoted Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resuming work after the government shutdown. Employees in the Environmental Protection Agency’s chemicals office may be able to begin their normal tasks reviewing new and evaluating the risks of existing ones by the end of this week, said Richard Engler, director of chemistry at...

On January 25, 2019, Bloomberg Environment spoke with Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), for the article “New York Pushes Back Cleaning Products’ Disclosure Deadline.” Cleaning product manufacturers and their suppliers are hard put to comply with both New York’s and California’s ingredient disclosure requirements because they are dissimilar, said Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson and Campbell PC, a Washington,...

This week, I took part in a roundtable discussion about biobased products with my colleagues Kathleen Roberts and Dr. Rich Engler. Over the last several years, there has been a significant trend towards the use of renewable, bio-based chemicals. Although these chemicals often have similar, if not identical, functionalities as the non-renewable, fossil-based chemical that they are intended to replace, there are a number of regulatory challenges in bringing these to market. In this conversation,...

On January 24, 2019, Chemical Watch spoke with Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), for the article “Shutdown-related delays could compromise TSCA statutory deadlines.” Lynn Bergeson, managing partner at Bergeson & Campbell, said that the shutdown is stretching the limits of what the EPA is capable of completing in terms of TSCA implementation. “I am concerned simply because we all live in the real world, and...

As Brexit is eclipsing nearly all other developments in Europe these days, we write to alert you to another important development underway in the European Union (EU). As discussed in detail below, the European Commission (EC) has initiated a process to evaluate and likely revise the EU framework addressing the regulation of food contact materials (FCM). Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (Regulation) provides this framework and has done so since its adoption in October 2004 with varying...

On January 18, 2019, Inside EPA spoke with Kathleen M. Roberts, Senior Regulatory Consultant, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), for the article “EPA’s Fee Rule Takes Effect Without Suit, A First For TSCA Framework.” Kathleen Roberts, a senior regulatory consultant at the law firm Bergeson & Campbell, suggested that the clarity of the statute regarding fees dissuaded critics from challenging EPA’s final rule. “I believe that there were no challenges...

On January 18, 2019, Bloomberg Environment featured comments by James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant with Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding delayed pesticide product approvals. The EPA also processes thousands of applications for so-called “me-too” chemicals—pesticides that are nearly identical to other products already on the market. “EPA is normally able to process those applications pretty quickly,” said Jim Aidala, a government...

On January 18, 2019, Inside EPA extensively quoted Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.’s (B&C®) Forecast 2019 in the article “EPA Shutdown Stymies Looming TSCA Assessment, Rule Deadlines.” Observers are also waiting for EPA to publish its updated TSCA inventory, the list of all existing chemicals, after receiving submissions from industry on which chemicals are deemed active — manufactured, processed or imported within the past decade — or inactive. Its...