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On December 9, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice responding to comments received on its 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). 87 Fed. Reg. 75694. PHMSA also issued the first set of FAQs in final and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) has postponed the webinar originally scheduled for December 13, 2022, on the “SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap: Soaring Towards Sustainable Fuel Production Goals.” According to BETO, the webinar will take place in early 2023. As reported in our November 29, 2022, blog item, the webinar will cover the six action areas that support the Grand Challenge’s goals...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO) Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium (ChemCatBio) will hold a webinar on December 14, 2022, on what is ahead for the consortium. From 2020 to 2022, ChemCatBio’s research and development (R&D) focus was on improving carbon efficiency during catalytic conversion to drive down minimum fuel selling price. ChemCatBio states that now, with three more years of...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 30, 2020, that it is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profits to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SER) to provide advice and recommendations to two Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panels.  One Panel will focus on EPA’s development of a proposed rule to address unreasonable risks identified in EPA’s recently completed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation for...

On December 8, 2022, Chemical Watch quoted Todd J. Stedeford, Ph.D., DABT®, ERT, ATS, Of Counsel, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding a proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) significant new use rule (SNUR) restricting the use of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Todd Stedeford, counsel with Bergeson & Campbell, said the challenges presented by the proposed Snur are “not necessarily” unique to renewable battery companies.  Each processor...

On December 2, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN) and are also subject to Orders issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA. 87 Fed. Reg. 74072. The SNURs require persons who intend to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or process any of these chemical substances for an activity that is...

On November 29, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed new mitigation measures for 11 rodenticides, including measures to reduce potential exposures to three federally listed endangered and threatened species and one critical habitat. The mitigation measures are part of EPA’s goals outlined in its April 2022 Endangered Species Act (ESA) Workplan and one of the ESA pilots described in its November 2022 update. Comments on the proposed...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on December 7, 2022, publication of a June 2022 report by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) entitled Assessment of the potential impact of graphene, graphene oxide and other 2D materials on health, and the environment. Commissioned by EUON, the report provides a systematic review and critical assessment of the health and environmental effects of graphene, graphene oxide, and other two-dimensional (2D)...

Download transcript. This week, Dr. Richard E. Engler, Director of Chemistry for B&C and The Acta Group, our consulting affiliate, returned to the studio to discuss the stubbornly vexatious problem of TSCA’s regulation of articles, a fancy name for products or finished goods. Most listeners to the podcast appreciate that this U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administration has specifically applied TSCA regulations to articles far more than in decades past. This policy pivot...