All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On February 8, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received a petition seeking a rule reversing EPA’s 1991 Bevill regulatory determination excluding phosphogypsum and process wastewater from phosphoric acid production (process wastewater) from hazardous waste regulation under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The petition also urges EPA to promulgate regulations under RCRA Subtitle C governing the safe treatment, storage, and disposal...

On March 10, 2021, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on “The Path Forward: Restoring the Vital Mission of EPA.” According to the March 7, 2021, memorandum from Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chair of the Committee, to the Subcommittee, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) current responsibilities include reviewing national air pollution standards and overseeing or carrying out cleanups at most of the...

On March 3, 2021, Representatives Frank Lucas (R-OK), Ranking Member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee; Stephanie Bice (R-OK), Ranking Member of the Environment Subcommittee; and Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Ranking Member of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging EPA to expedite any reevaluation of the Toxic Substances Control Act’s (TSCA) systematic review methods.  As reported in our...

On March 4, 2021, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) announced that it is recommending an eight-hour occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 0.80 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) for titanium dioxide nanoparticles.  According to ANSES, compliance with this value “should help prevent lung inflammation, an effect that occurs at the lowest exposure concentrations.”  Due to the lack of available data on the immediate or...

As a new administration arrives in Washington, D.C., few things are certain except that 2021 is sure to be an eventful year. While underlying partisan jockeying and prospects for bipartisan cooperation will greatly affect what may happen in the more limited context of chemical regulation, the Biden administration has already laid out priorities on the environment that will surely influence the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) positions on climate change, the role of science, and...

The United Kingdom (UK) Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published an HSE Biocides eBulletin on March 8, 2021, announcing upcoming deadlines for businesses under the Great Britain (GB) Biocidal Products Regulation (GB BPR). As of January 1, 2021, HSE no longer has access to the European Union’s (EU) information technology (IT) systems to access applications (including the data dossiers) previously submitted under those systems. Businesses must therefore resubmit applications for...

On March 5, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that “in support of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to making evidence-based decisions to protect human health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking an important step by proposing the cancellation of the registration of pentachlorophenol.” Pentachlorophenol, a well-recognized wood preservative in use for decades, is registered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 8, 2021, that “in accordance with Biden-Harris Administration executive orders and directives,” it is asking for additional public input on five final rules for persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals issued on January 6, 2021, under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  EPA states that as a first step in its efforts to review these rules immediately, EPA is opening a 60-day comment period for...

On March 5, 2021, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published its final opinion on copper (nano) and colloidal copper (nano).  According to the final opinion, nine manufacturers notified the EC about 36 different products containing nanosized copper.  After initial evaluation and a request for additional information, two manufacturers withdrew their products from the notification, and these seven products were excluded from evaluation,...

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold a fully remote hearing on March 10, 2021, on “The Path Forward:  Restoring the Vital Mission of EPA.”  According to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s March 3, 2021, press release, the hearing will examine the “critical need to restore the mission” of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and how EPA “can address climate change and other urgent challenges to the nation’s...