Articles

In April 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened an enormous can of worms for entities even remotely association with the generation, transport, use or disposal of two legacy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). In designating the PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the EPA greenlit the initiation of...

Much speculation is growing about what to expect from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2025 under the Trump administration. Donald Trump’s presidential campaign focused on downsizing the federal government, especially the EPA. The first Trump administration tried hard to cut the agency’s workforce and funding while working to decrease regulations it viewed as burdensome.  The new administration will likely follow a similar path, taking significant steps to roll back...

The number of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list is expected to expand greatly. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Oct. 8, 2024, to add 16 PFAS and 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual PFAS subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020...

We heard a loud, collective sigh of relief when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unexpectedly published a direct final rule on Sept. 5, delaying the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting deadline by an additional eight months.  The rule delayed the deadline from May 8, 2025, to January 11, 2026. For any company reporting exclusively as an article importer and is also considered a small manufacturer, the...

Canada recently joined a growing list of countries requiring the reporting of certain information on the manufacture, import and use of specific per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). On July 27, 2024, Canada’s Minister of the Environment published a Canada Gazette notice announcing a mandatory survey to obtain information on 312 listed PFAS. Canada’s “Guidance manual for responding to the: Notice with respect to certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)” states that...

Corporate entities are feeling the heat per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are generating. PFAS manufacturers are being sued in record numbers in the US based on novel legal theories involving personal injury tort claims, product liability, environmental damage and fraud among other things. Heightened legal activity in other jurisdictions, including the UK and the European Union (EU), is expected. Manufacturers of products containing PFAS, and their downstream users, are also becoming...

On July 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a compliance guide for its final methylene chloride risk management rule issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The final rule is complicated, and the compliance guide is a useful document for stakeholders to consider reading. ...

On June 14, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued proposed restrictions under Section 6(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to protect workers and consumers from exposure to N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) (89 Fed. Reg. 51134). To address the unreasonable risks the EPA identified, the agency proposes a combination of worker and consumer protections. Given NMP’s ubiquitous applications, this is an important TSCA proposal....

The standard of judicial review for most critical TSCA determinations under section 19 is “substantial evidence in the record taken as a whole”. This is a tough standard, considerably more rigorous than the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) standard under section 706, where agency action will be set aside if it is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” The recent Loper...

On 28 March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its long-awaited first final risk management rule under the Toxic Substances Control Acta (TSCA), banning the import and eventual use of chrysotile asbestos. This is the only form of asbestos known to be used in the US. You may be thinking now that because your company does not import or use asbestos, this does not affect you. You should care about it because the EPA’s approach...