The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 26, 2020, a temporary policy regarding enforcement of environmental legal obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. EPA states that its temporary enforcement discretion policy applies to civil violations during the COVID-19 outbreak. The policy addresses different categories of noncompliance differently. For example, according to EPA, it “does not expect to seek penalties for noncompliance...
March 25, 2020
Yvette T. Collazo Will Be New Director of EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
Effective March 29, 2020, Yvette T. Collazo will be the new Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Ms. Collazo previously worked for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where she led activities related to federal contracts and agreements of more than $250 million for the cleanup of radiological, industrial, and groundwater hazards resulting from decades of nuclear material production at DOE’s Savannah River...
March 25, 2020
Yvette T. Collazo Will Be New Director of EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
Effective March 29, 2020, Yvette T. Collazo will be the new Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT). Ms. Collazo previously worked for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), where she led activities related to federal contracts and agreements of more than $250 million for the cleanup of radiological, industrial, and groundwater hazards resulting from decades of nuclear material production at DOE’s Savannah River...
In a Federal Register notice published on March 20, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the March 24-26, 2020, Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) meeting to review the draft risk evaluation for trichloroethylene (TCE) is being changed to a virtual public meeting. 85 Fed. Reg. 16096. Participation will be by telephone and webcast only. EPA states the meeting times and...
Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), sat down with Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry at B&C, to bring everyone up to date on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) fee rule and how it applies to entities obligated to pay a portion of the $1,350,000 per chemical fee for preparing an EPA-initiated risk evaluation, the legal and regulatory significance of the supplemental...
On March 5, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is seeking grant applications through the Source Reduction Assistance Grant Program from states, federally recognized tribes, universities, local governments, and other groups to support innovative solutions for source reduction or pollution prevention (P2) through research, education, training, or certain other methods. EPA notes that as it highlights chemical safety during the month of March, “these...
March 9, 2020
EPA Adds Two Microorganisms to List of Microorganisms Eligible for Exemption from Certain TSCA Reporting Requirements
On March 5, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it issued a final rule to add two strains of microorganisms to the list of microorganisms eligible for an exemption from certain reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that manufacturers of new intergeneric Trichoderma reesei (strain QM6a) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (subspecies amyloliquefaciens) may now be eligible to undergo a streamlined review process under...
March 9, 2020
EPA Extends Deadline to Self-Identify as a Manufacturer or Importer of a High-Priority Chemical to May 27
On March 9, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has extended the deadline to self-identify as a manufacturer or importer of a high-priority chemical to May 27, 2020. EPA states that it is working to address issues identified with implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Fees Rule and EPA-initiated risk evaluations. EPA “is actively seeking ways to address the many implementation impracticalities that have been...
On March 2, 2020, at ChemCon The Americas 2020 in Philadelphia, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), and Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, sat down with Tjeerd Bokhout to discuss the implementation of Lautenberg and what can be expected through 2020. Ms. Dunn started off the discussion, noting that EPA is “getting our sea legs under us; we spent the first...
On March 3, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a proposed supplemental significant new use rule (SNUR) issued under Section 5(a)(2) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylate (LCPFAC) chemical substances to make inapplicable the exemption for persons who import a subset of LCPFAC chemical substances as part of surface coatings on articles. 85 Fed. Reg. 12479. Under the...