On July 15, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is updating its process when it assesses the potential for exposure to pesticide drift when it reviews new active ingredient pesticide registrations or makes decisions on new use directions for existing pesticide registrations. EPA states it will review potential exposure to drift earlier in the review process. Historically, EPA has only conducted a chemical-specific assessment of the potential for people to be exposed to...
July 24, 2024
Senate Committee Will Hold Hearing on Understanding the Potential Environmental Impacts of 6PPD
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on July 31, 2024, on “Understanding the Potential Environmental Impacts of the Chemical 6PPD.” The scheduled witnesses include: Katrina Lassiter, Program Manager, Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program, Washington State Department of Ecology (WDOE); Tracey Norberg, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA); and David B. Fischer, MPH, Counsel, Keller and Heckman LLP....
July 24, 2024
Lynn L Bergeson, Kelly N Garson, “Loper Bright and TSCA: Will the demise of Chevron matter?,” Chemical Watch, July 22, 2024.
The standard of judicial review for most critical TSCA determinations under section 19 is "substantial evidence in the record taken as a whole". This is a tough standard, considerably more rigorous than the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) standard under section 706, where agency action will be set aside if it is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." The recent Loper Bright decision overturning Chevron has invited much...
The Agriculture and Food Section (AFS) is pleased to be leading two sessions at IBA 2024, the International Bar Association’s (IBA) annual conference in Mexico City, September 15-20, 2024. AFS members and supporting committees will present Disruptive technologies in agriculture, on Monday, 16 September (11:15 – 12:30 CST) and Foreign ownership of farmland, on Tuesday, 17 September (11:15 – 12:30 CST). Both sessions will further AFS’s mission to focus on the complex law and policy issues...
The Agriculture and Food Section (AFS) is pleased to be leading two sessions at IBA 2024, the International Bar Association’s (IBA) annual conference in Mexico City, September 15-20, 2024. Both sessions will further AFS’s mission to focus on the complex law and policy issues invited by the imperative to feed the planet, to do so equitably, and to do so effectively in a time of climate change and during/post a global pandemic. Disruptive technologies in agriculture, Monday, 16 September...
July 23, 2024
BETO’s Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium Intends to Issue Industrial Partnership Call in September 2024
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office’s (BETO’s) Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC) intends to issue in September 2024 an Industrial Partnership Call (IPC) to allow collaboration between industry stakeholders and FCIC researchers. According to BETO, research areas may include biomass supply, handling, transport, storage, preprocessing, and initial chemical conversion. To maximize the likelihood of near-term impact for industrial partners, BETO...
July 23, 2024
DPR Announces Modifications to Its Proposed First-of-Its-Kind Pesticide Application Notification System
On July 2, 2024, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced the release of modifications to its proposed pesticide application notification regulation. DPR states this regulation will support the statewide implementation of what it describes to be a “first-of-its-kind” system that would provide information to the public in advance regarding the planned applications of “restricted material pesticides” used in agriculture. DPR initially proposed the regulation on...
Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is pleased to present “Determining PFAS Content in Your Supply Chain and Expanding Data Collection Practice,” a complimentary webinar covering the basics of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reporting rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). With Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) wrapping up this fall, companies still have time to gather the necessary information regarding PFAS to begin reporting as early as this November....
The European Commission (EC) launched a call on July 5, 2024, for applications for members of the new Technology Council for Advanced Materials. According to the Directorate General (DG) for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, “this high-level group will coordinate efforts to meet future needs for advanced materials in Europe, and is key to building a single advanced materials ecosystem.” The EC’s February 2024 Communication on Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership...
On July 1, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of the draft risk evaluation for 1,1-dichloroethane (1,1-DCE) and the draft human health hazard assessment supporting the draft risk evaluation for 1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCE, also known as ethylene dichloride) prepared under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that it “preliminarily determined 1,1-dichloroethane poses unreasonable risk to human health (of workers) and the environment.”...