On June 16, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit requesting that litigation over its 2024 final rule regulating chrysotile asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) be held in abeyance for an additional six months. According to the filing, EPA intends to initiate a new notice-and-comment rulemaking to reconsider certain provisions of the rule. The litigation, Texas Chemistry Council, et al. v. EPA,...
Archives
June 20, 2025
EPA Will Extend Postponement of Effective Date of Certain Provisions of Final TCE Risk Management Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided on update on June 18, 2025, on the status of the December 2024 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE). According to EPA, it is postponing until August 19, 2025, certain requirements already postponed in March 2025. EPA notes that these requirements relate only to the TSCA Section 6(g) exemptions in the final TCE rule. According to EPA, “[t]his will ensure that the timing of EPA’s...
As reported in our May 13, 2025, blog item, on March 24, 2025, PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) submitted a petition seeking an amendment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) December 2024 final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE). PPG requested an amendment to the exemption for the industrial and commercial use of TCE as a processing aid for specialty polymeric microporous sheet materials manufacturing that would allow PPG to meet an interim existing chemical exposure...
June 11, 2025
ACC Files TSCA Section 21 Petition Seeking Reconsideration of TCE Risk Management Rule
On May 27, 2025, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to reconsider the final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE). ACC requests that EPA reconsider and amend two provisions of the rule: Revise the byproduct exclusion in 40 C.F.R. Section 751.301(c) by removing the “site-limited” restriction that requires byproduct TCE to be reused as a “part of the same overall...
On May 20, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposed rule that would extend certain compliance dates in the final risk management rule for methylene chloride under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) “to ensure long-term compliance with the rule’s requirements.” The proposed rule would extend the Workplace Chemical Protection Program (WCPP) compliance dates for non-federal laboratories by an additional 18 months to align with the dates allowed for federal...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated its website to include two petitions submitted under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that seek reconsideration of exemption provisions of EPA’s final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE). On March 24, 2025, PPG Industries, Inc. (PPG) submitted a petition seeking an amendment to the December 2024 final rule’s exemption for the industrial and commercial use of TCE as a processing aid for specialty...
April 15, 2025
EPA Postpones Effective Date of Certain Provisions of TCE Risk Management Rule to June 20, 2025
On April 2, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is postponing the effectiveness of certain provisions of its December 17, 2024, final risk management rule for trichloroethylene (TCE) until June 20, 2025. 90 Fed. Reg. 14415. After EPA issued the final rule in December 2024, it received multiple petitions for an administrative stay of the effective date. EPA denied the requests, and the companies submitted renewed petitions to stay the effective date of the rule,...
On March 5, 2025, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the availability of its final State of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Report (State of PFAS Report) and proposed risk management approach for PFAS, excluding fluoropolymers. The State of PFAS Report concludes that the class of PFAS, excluding fluoropolymers, is harmful to human health and the environment. To address these risks, on March 8, 2025, Canada published a proposed order that would add the class of...
On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is reopening the comment period for the January 2025 proposed rule to address the unreasonable risk of injury to human health presented by Color Index (C.I.) Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) under its conditions of use (COU) as documented in EPA’s January 2021 risk evaluation and September 2022 revised risk determination. 90 Fed. Reg. 11142. Comments are due April 29, 2025. As reported in our January 27, 2025,...
January 27, 2025
EPA Proposes Risk Management Rule to Protect Workers from Inhalation Exposure to PV29
On January 14, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed rule to address the unreasonable risk of injury to human health presented by Color Index (C.I.) Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) under its conditions of use (COU) as documented in EPA’s January 2021 risk evaluation and September 2022 revised risk determination. 90 Fed. Reg. 3107. The proposed rule states that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that EPA address by rule any unreasonable risk of injury to...