Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted by Chemical Watch in Article “NGOs push for rare TSCA order to block Texas company’s plastic fluorination”

On June 5, 2023, Chemical Watch quoted Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C^®), regarding a push from NGO’s for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) to use for the first time its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 5 to block a Texas-based company from using a plastic fluorination process that generates several types of long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). 

If the EPA were to make a 5(f) determination in this case, the implications would be “all bad,” Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson and Campbell, told Chemical Watch. 

“It is not clear EPA has sufficient evidence to make a 5(f) finding,” Bergeson said.  

Last week, the EPA published data indicating it found no sign of PFASs in sampled pesticides contained in fluorinated containers. Other research, however, has suggested that PFASs from fluorinated plastic containers can migrate into food. Neither study was focused on containers fluorinated by Inhance, and researchers did not indicate what entities may have fluorinated the tested containers. 

Bergeson said if the agency granted the type of order requested by the environmental groups “it would mean EPA is using extraordinary regulatory measures to address these PFASs in the absence of data supporting a 5(f) determination in a way that may not be contemplated in TSCA”.  

Inhance could be expected to challenge such a finding in court, she said, adding that other entities might also intervene in such a case “to preclude EPA from lowering the statutory standard for making a 5(f) finding”.   

See – https://chemicalwatch.com/768388/ngos-push-for-rare-tsca-order-to-block-texas-companys-plastic-fluorination (subscription required)