Toxics

A panel convened to inform a future EPA rule for reducing reporting for certain chemicals' uses is split on whether to eliminate long-standing exemptions for certain uses, with industry calling the move contrary to the group's charge and environmentalists saying the exemptions lack scientific basis, though EPA is seeking compromise to continue the talks.

Washington state firefighters are urging Democratic senators to halt development of a novel dispersion modeling approach for assessing risks from toxic gas releases, arguing the federal agency and industry collaboration underestimates risks to the public in filings with EPA and other agencies, though an industry group says the method is based on sound science and may still be revised.

Chemical industry officials say that new EPA guidance to third parties on drafting their own risk evaluations for the agency's consideration as part of the revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) may give industry new strategies for the reviews, but the law leaves several questions unanswered as it gives little guidance over how the process will work.

Environmental, community and health groups are citing EPA's recent move to reclassify a rulemaking to update lead dust hazard standards as "inactive" to bolster their legal argument that a federal appellate court should compel EPA to move forward on updating the standards -- but EPA says the change is “semantic” and does not affect the lawsuit.