The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on May 17, 2022, on the fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies held a separate hearing on May 18, 2022. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan was the only witness at each hearing. The hearings included questions about EPA’s implementation of the...
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Public Law 117-58, 135 Stat. 429. Section 80201 of the IIJA reinstates the Superfund excise tax on certain chemical substances under Sections 4661 and 4671 of the Internal Revenue Code (Tax Code), effective July 1, 2022. Section 80201(c)(1) of the IIJA modified the method for determining whether a substance is a taxable substance by lowering the required...
As reported in our May 17, 2022, memorandum, on May 12, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new and amended requirements concerning the assertion and treatment of confidential business information (CBI) claims for information reported to or otherwise obtained by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 29078. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) amendments to TSCA in 2016 included many new...
On May 12, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new and amended requirements concerning the assertion and treatment of confidential business information (CBI) claims for information reported to or otherwise obtained by EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 29078. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) amendments to TSCA in 2016 included many new provisions concerning the assertion, EPA review, and...
The European Commission (EC) recently opened a survey focused only on potential reforms to the authorisation and restriction provisions of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation (No. 1907/2006), as well as the extension of the Generic Risk management Approach (GRA). The EC is revising REACH to reflect the goals in its ambitious Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). The survey supports the EC’s impact assessment for the...
On May 6, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements for asbestos under Section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 27060. EPA proposes to require certain persons that manufactured (including imported) or processed asbestos and asbestos-containing articles (including as an impurity) in the four years prior to the date of publication of the final rule to report electronically certain exposure-related...
On April 29, 2022, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies held a hearing on President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In his written testimony, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan notes that “[c]hemicals and toxic substances are ubiquitous in our everyday lives and are often released into the environment from their manufacture, processing use, or disposal.”...
April 29, 2022
EC Publishes Restrictions Roadmap, Prioritizing Group Restrictions for the Most Harmful Chemical Substances
On April 25, 2022, the European Commission (EC) published a Restrictions Roadmap under the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (Restrictions Roadmap) that provides detailed information on all ongoing work on future restrictions under the European Union (EU) chemical legislation. The Restrictions Roadmap prioritizes group restrictions for the most harmful substances to human health and the environment, as set out in the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (Strategy)....
On April 20-21, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a virtual public meeting to provide an overview of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program and give stakeholders an opportunity to provide input. As reported in our March 14, 2022, memorandum on the draft document entitled “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA,” the Office of Chemical Safety and...
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 8, 2022, that it used its Penalty Offense Authority to take action against Kohl’s and Walmart “for falsely marketing dozens of rayon textile products as bamboo.” FTC also charged both companies with making deceptive environmental claims, “touting that the ‘bamboo’ textiles were made using ecofriendly processes, while in reality converting bamboo into rayon requires the use of toxic chemicals and results in hazardous...
April 12, 2022
Senate Committee Hearing on Proposed FY 2023 EPA Budget Includes Discussion of TSCA and FIFRA Issues
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on April 6, 2022, on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget. The only witness was EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. In his written testimony, Regan states that EPA has significant responsibilities under amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure the safety of chemicals in or entering commerce and addressing unreasonable risks to...
On April 5, 2022, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a notice proposing additional modifications to its proposal to modify its Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Article 6 “clear and reasonable warnings” regulations for “short-form” warnings (Notice). OEHHA first proposed to change the short-form warning requirements on January 8, 2021. On December 13, 2021, OEHHA issued a notice proposing modifications to the revisions in its first proposal. More...
The U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) announced on April 5, 2022, that it will propose to prohibit ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the only known form of asbestos currently imported into the United States. EPA notes that the proposed rule will be “the first-ever risk management rule issued under the new process for evaluating and addressing the safety of existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that was enacted in 2016.” EPA will propose to prohibit...
On April 6, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a webinar on “New Chemical Risk Management Actions under TSCA.” The slides include an embedded voiceover recording of the webinar. As reported in our January 24, 2022, blog item, in January 2022, EPA announced an effort to streamline the review of new biobased or waste-derived chemicals that could displace current, higher greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting transportation fuels. EPA states that to support this...
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published on April 4, 2022, a request for information (RFI) from interested parties on federal programs and activities in support of sustainable chemistry. 87 Fed. Reg. 19539. OSTP notes that “[t]he term “sustainable chemistry” does not have a consensus definition and most uses of the term indicate that it is synonymous with “green chemistry.”” OSTP requests information on the preferred definition for sustainable chemistry. OSTP...
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced on March 22, 2022, an initiative to convert historical letters of interpretation (LOI) applicable to the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) that have been issued to specific stakeholders into broadly applicable frequently asked questions (FAQ) on its website. 87 Fed. Reg. 16308. PHMSA states that by creating a FAQ repository, it seeks to eliminate the need for recurring...
March 18, 2022
House Committee Holds Hearing on Bioenergy RD&D for the Fuels and Chemicals of Tomorrow
On March 16, 2022, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing on “Bioenergy Research and Development for the Fuels and Chemicals of Tomorrow.” According to the hearing charter, the purpose of the hearing was to examine the status of bioenergy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The hearing also considered advancements in bioenergy research and the potential role of this...
March 17, 2022
EPA Actions to Address PFAS in Commerce Include TSCA Compliance Notification Letter on PFAS in HDPE Containers
On March 16, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two actions intended to safeguard communities from products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). First, as part of EPA’s efforts to identify, understand, and address PFAS contamination leaching from fluorinated containers, EPA states that it is notifying companies of their obligation to comply with existing requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to ensure unintentional...
March 14, 2022
EPA Posts Draft Document on “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA”
As reported in our February 25, 2022, blog item, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 25, 2022, the proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program. 87 Fed. Reg. 10784. On March 10, 2022, EPA posted the draft document entitled “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA.” The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) proposes to...
March 8, 2022
EPA Publishes Final Scope of D4 Risk Evaluation, Seeks Comment on Draft Revision to PV29 Risk Determination
On March 7, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of the final scope of the risk evaluation to be conducted for octamethylcyclotetra-siloxane (D4), a chemical substance for which EPA received a manufacturer request for risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 12696. The scope document includes the conditions of use (COU), hazards, exposures, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations (PESS)...