August 7, 2026 -- This article has been updated to feature additional information and analysis. On July 14, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction in California League of Food Producers v. Bonta (California League), blocking enforcement of Senate Bill 343 (SB 343), California’s “Truth in Recycling” law. The California legislature enacted SB 343 on October 5, 2021, taking aim at the question of whether products labeled as...
Archives
On June 24, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) announced “the first comprehensive federal settlement with a major PFAS manufacturer, Chemours.” Under the $450 million settlement agreement, Chemours will spend more than $337 million on injunctive relief, including an estimated $280 million to provide alternative drinking water, $60 million to ensure compliance with...
There are some who maintain that Republican administrations do not prioritise the enforcement of US environmental laws and tend to give industry a pass on regulatory compliance, except in the most egregious cases. This view was likely reinforced by several core themes of candidate Trump’s campaign, which assailed "job-killing" regulations that burden American businesses and hurt the economy, coupled with President Trump’s day one executive orders, which included an immediate freeze on new...
June 30, 2026
Lynn L. Bergeson, “EPA Enforcement Is Alive and Kicking,” Chemical Processing, June 30, 2026.
There is a mistaken perception that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not aggressively enforcing U.S. chemical laws. It is. EPA announced on June 1, 2026, that it filed an administrative complaint against Wego Chemical Group and related companies (Wego) for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). If EPA seeks maximum penalties, it could yield a whopping $34 million penalty. The complaint, and others like it, reflect the agency’s commitment to...
EPA’s recent enforcement actions and TSCA citizen lawsuits highlight a growing focus on TSCA compliance, including chemical data reporting, import certifications, and accurate disclosure of chemical uses. During this webinar, which is exclusively available to Alliance for Chemical Distributors (ACD) members, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, B&C, and Ryan N. Schmit Of Counsel, B&C, will explore key enforcement trends, lessons learned, and practical steps companies can take to reduce...
On June 12, 2026, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced proposed revisions to its enforcement response regulations. The initiative proposes to increase fines, revise the criteria for referring violations to enforcement, re-define violation types, and make other clarifications or amendments to enforcement procedure. The last major substantive update to the regulations took place in 2006. Purpose and Substance of Proposal DPR states that the proposed action...
Shortly after announcing a case against a chemical supplier for failing to disclose imports of “hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals and their intended use,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 4, 2026, a settlement with an international agribusiness company for claims of violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) at its facilities in California and Washington. According to EPA, Wilbur-Ellis Company agreed to pay a penalty of $630,737 for...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on June 1, 2026, that it has filed an administrative complaint against Wego Chemical Group and related companies (Wego) for violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to EPA, the complaint is the result of Wego’s “years-long” failure to report properly its import and domestic distribution of chemical substances. EPA states that since at least 2016, Wego imported “hundreds of millions of pounds of hundreds of...
On November 13, 2025, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) held a webinar to discuss potential changes to its Enforcement Response Regulations set forth at 3 C.C.R. Sections 6128 and 6130. DPR also released its Discussion Document explaining the various regulatory “concepts” it is considering and posing questions for public input related to those concepts. The proposed focus areas are designed to address areas of improvement identified in a U.S. Environmental...
The state of Oregon’s packaging and paper Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program, enacted in 2021, has progressed into its enforcement stage. With the first fee obligations and real-world compliance deadlines now in place, the risk of litigation under and against the program has transitioned from theoretical to real. In July 2025, a major trade association, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), filed a constitutional challenge to Oregon’s law, raising issues that are...