On January 22, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. (EST), the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment will hold a hearing entitled “A Decade Later: Assessing the Legacy and Impact of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) provides the EPA with needed authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing requirements related to chemical exposures where...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed changes to its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations dealing with premanufacture notices (PMNs) and certain exemptions from PMN requirements. Of particular...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on February 23, 2023, entitled “EPA Chemical Reviews: Workforce Planning Gaps Contributed to Missed Deadlines.” GAO evaluated the extent to which the U.S....more
On September 7, 2022, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) held a webinar to introduce a cumulative risk assessment (CRA) framework that takes into account multiple exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors. Sarah...more
The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change will hold a hearing on October 27, 2021, on “TSCA and Public Health: Fulfilling the Promise of the Lautenberg Act.” According to the October 20,...more
The 2016 Lautenberg Amendments turning five on June 22, 2021 provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on how this ambitious and bold statute is growing up – and faring in the courts. Tracking the body of law building up...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final risk evaluation for carbon tetrachloride on November 4, 2020. 85 Fed. Reg. 70147. EPA states that it reviewed 15 conditions of use, “all of which are...more
On September 24, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final risk evaluation for cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster (HBCD). EPA found unreasonable risks to the environment from six out of 12...more
On October 29, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of the draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation for methylene chloride (MC)....more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on June 21, 2019, a proposed rule intended to reduce exposures to certain chemicals that are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT). EPA identified five chemicals...more
On March 13, 2019, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on “Mismanaging Chemical Risks: EPA’s Failure to Protect Workers.” The hearing examined the U.S. Environmental...more
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on March 6, 2019, a report entitled High-Risk Series: Substantial Efforts Needed to Achieve Greater Progress on High-Risk Areas. GAO’s high-risk program identifies...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Federal Register notice on November 15, 2018, announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on the first draft chemical risk evaluation under the Toxic...more
On June 22, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Strategic Plan to Promote the Development and Implementation of Alternative Test Methods Within the TSCA Program. Development of the Strategic...more
On June 1, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it took “three important steps” intended to ensure chemical safety under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act...more
Some 20 months have passed since the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (LCSA) was signed into law, making wide and significant changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). During that time,...more
The Environmental Council of the States (“ECOS”) submitted December 11th comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on: Chemical Data Reporting: Requirements for Inorganic Byproduct Chemical...more
Under the 2016 TSCA amendments, risk evaluation is the critical step toward EPA banning or restricting chemicals, or else determining that they will not be regulated. As required by those amendments, EPA has promulgated a...more
Protection for confidential business information (CBI) could be at risk under one provision of the amended Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) now under consideration by EPA. TSCA’s little-noticed section 14(g)(4) requires...more
In June 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed into law the first major revisions to the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”) in decades. The newly enacted Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act...more
Eight months have now passed since President Obama signed into law the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (LCSA), Pub. Law 114-182, on June 22, 2016. This historic legislation overhauled the Toxic...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to publish in the December 21, 2016, Federal Register a final rule regarding procedures for rulemaking under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). ...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will issue a proposed rule to ban the use of trichloroethylene (TCE) as an aerosol degreaser and a spot removal agent in dry cleaning. This announcement, made on December 7,...more
This client alert is the fifth in a series that discusses the significant changes instituted by the passage of a new federal Toxic Substances Control Act. The first alert addressed broadly the law’s myriad of changes and the...more