All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On July 18, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out the “reorganization plan” for its Office of Research and Development (ORD). The plan’s stated goal is to reduce budget expenditures, improve science, and have EPA’s research activities better support the work of EPA’s media offices. The EPA press release refers to the reorganization effort as a continuation of “comprehensive restructuring” that includes a reduction in force (RIF) for the ORD and a...

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced on August 14, 2025, a WatchBlog item entitled “EPA’s New Chemicals Program Could Improve Safety If Better Managed” that examines GAO’s January 2025 report on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Chemicals Program (NCP). According to GAO, EPA assesses new chemicals using a 13-step process that includes an eco hazard review, a human health hazard review, and several other risks assessments. In its January 2025...

On June 25, 2025, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform -- Nine Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and almost 1,000 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions to enable our podcast audience to listen to the...

On August 1, 2025, Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) reintroduced the bipartisan Biomanufacturing and Jobs Act (S. 2654). According to Slotkin’s August 6, 2025, press release, the bill would “create jobs and create new markets for our farmers by strengthening the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) BioPreferred program, a program designed to promote the use of domestic biobased products.” The press release states...

On August 13, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the relaunch of EPA’s Guidance Portal, “a streamlined website for accessing important guidance documents related to air quality, water protection, hazardous waste management, and more.” According to EPA, the website serves as a resource for all guidance documents managed across EPA's headquarters environmental programs. EPA designed the website to be a “one-stop shop to help users and small businesses easily and...

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), in force since January 1, 2024, mandates that “relevant commodities” linked to deforestation -- including cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, and wood -- must not enter the European Union (EU) market unless documented as deforestation-free. A central pillar of the EUDR is its Country Classification List, placing nations into low-risk, standard-risk, or high-risk categories based on governance quality, deforestation rates, and,...

On August 11, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) motion to dismiss the Cookware Sustainability Alliance’s (CSA) suit for failure to state a claim. CSA v. Kessler (No. 0:25-cv-00041). As reported in our January 14, 2025, blog item, CSA filed suit in January 2025, claiming that Minnesota’s January 1, 2025, ban on the sale of cookware containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)...

Lynn L. Bergeson And Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. To Present On Chemical Issues At Regulatory Summit North America Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) affiliate The Acta Group (Acta®) is a proud sponsor of Chemical Watch’s Regulatory Summit North America 2025, a four day conference providing a comprehensive overview of developments in chemicals control legislation, chemicals management for electronics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and product sustainability. Richard E....

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 6, 2025, the availability of the draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluations for the phthalates butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) for public comment. 90 Fed. Reg. 37855. According to EPA, the purpose of TSCA risk evaluations is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use (COU), including...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 8, 2025, that it seeks self-nominations from small businesses, governments, and not-for-profits to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SER) providing advice and recommendations for two separate Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panels. One SBAR Panel will focus on EPA’s development of a proposed rule to address unreasonable risk identified in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation for asbestos part...