Toxics

Numerous industry sectors are fighting a proposal by California air board officials to expand by more than 700 a list of substances for which companies must quantify or report air toxics emissions, charging that many chemicals pose no health threats and dozens of others are already subject to EPA reporting requirements.

A federal court in California has agreed with environmentalists that EPA has a nondiscretionary duty under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to update its rules governing oil spills in order to better regulate dispersants, relying in part on a landmark appellate decision that found EPA had unduly delayed updating its lead paint dust hazard standards.

EPA science advisors are unable to agree on whether the agency appropriately chose to base its analysis of the risks of the common solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) on the chemical’s adverse immune system effects rather than its historical -- and more conservative -- focus on fetal heart defects.

The chemical industry is generally backing EPA's controversial proposed rule limiting the use of science in regulatory and policy decisions but is calling for guidance from the agency’s toxics office, fearing that the rule’s implementation could delay agency decisions such as new chemical approvals under the revised toxics law