Author: Oliver E. Twaddell

Large coal fired power plant with smoking chimneys
EPA / Regulations
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New Proposed Rules Would Repeal Certain Regulations on Power Plants, Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

The Trump administration is proposing two repeals: one on regulations of power plants and the other on certain amendments to the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

The administration believes these regulations have “imposed massive costs on coal-, oil-, and gas-fired power plants, raising the cost of living for American families, imperiling the reliability of our electric grid, and limiting American energy prosperity.”

First: EPA is proposing to repeal all “greenhouse gas” emissions standards for the power sector under Section 111 of the Clean …

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New Jersey Flag with blue sky background
PFAS / Settlements
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Breaking News: Significant PFAS Settlement in New Jersey

Another major settlement was announced this week in New Jersey in consolidated cases filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and other state entities. (You can review the Judicial Consent Order here as well as previously PFAS settlements reported by our firm here and here, including in New Jersey for remediation costs.)

Settling plaintiffs, including the NJ DEP and its commissioner, and the administrator of the NJ Spill Compensation Fund,  alleged that “3M designed, manufactured, marketed, and sold certain PFAS, …

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Flag of California
California / PFAS
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California Bill Expands Definition of ‘Intentionally Added PFAS’

Our blog has reported previously on California PFAS regulations, including its watershed laws with novel definitions of PFAS and the noted problems with the total organic fluorine testing method. (Prior CA blog posts on PFAS).

We have also written on California’s PFAS ban in many children’s products and in disposable food packaging (here), California’s requirements on carpet and rug manufacturers to consider alternatives to PFAS, and bans (except under specified circumstances) on any cosmetic product that contains any of several specified …

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Dioxane
Emerging Issues / EPA
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EPA Finishes Risk Evaluation of 1,4-Dioxane under TSCA, Initiates Risk-Management Actions

Over the last six years, our firm has written extensively about 1,4-Dioxane, from U.S. EPA’s proclamations to state laws and regulations, litigation, and distinctions between federal and state perspectives. (see compilation of blog posts here.)

Today we are providing an update on the EPA’s final revised Unreasonable Risk Determination for 1,4-Dioxane, which includes new air and water exposure pathways that had not been previously evaluated, as well as evaluation of 1,4-Dioxane generated as a byproduct. 

According to EPA, 1,4-Dioxane is primarily used as …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Rule Kills Trichloroethylene and Cripples Perchloroethylene

Our blog has written on EPA’s placement of Trichloroethylene (TCE on the chopping block and the phase down of Perchloroethylene (PCE). And early this week, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized those proposed rules with the latest risk management regulations for those two chemicals.

Under the rule, “all uses of TCE will be banned over time (with the vast majority of identified risks eliminated within one year), and safer alternatives are readily available for the majority of uses.” Further, the rule will “ban[] manufacture, processing and distribution …

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Molecules
Emerging Issues
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What the TFA! Is Trifluoroacetic Acid Another “Forever Chemical” on the Rise?

A couple of months ago, our blog published an article on the exploding ubiquity of Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the environment.

TFA is a breakdown product of several hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC). It is regulated under the Montreal Protocol (MP), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) used mainly as refrigerants.

Trifluoroacetic acid is (1) produced naturally and synthetically, (2) used in the chemical industry, and (3) a potential environmental breakdown product of a large number (>1 million) chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and polymers.

In 2016, EPA stated that the “formation …

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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Proposes Addition of More PFAS and PFAS Categories to Toxic Release Inventory

As our blog has reported frequently, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation. Specifically: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.”  As part of this plan, we have blogged many times about the additions of various …

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Scientist with beaker
PFAS
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National Science and Technology Council’s PFAS R&D Strategy Plan Highlights Substantial Deficiencies

Recently, as part of the Joint Subcommittee on Environment, Innovation, and Public Health, the PFAS Strategy Team of the National Science and Technology Council released a report titled the “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Federal Research and Development Strategic Plan.”

The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) is the principal means by which the executive branch coordinates science and technology policy across the diverse entities that make up the federal research and development (R&D) enterprise. Through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for …

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Tractor spraying crops
EPA
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For the First Time in Four Decades, EPA Uses Emergency Suspension Power on a Pesticide

On August 6, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an Emergency Order directing the suspension of all registrations issued under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for pesticide products containing the active ingredient dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), also marketed under the trade name Dacthal. According to EPA, this is the “first time in almost 40 years that EPA is using its emergency suspension authority to stop the use of a pesticide.”

DCPA is a benzoic acid herbicide that inhibits cell division of root tips in …

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Big net thrown in the ocean capturing lots of fish
PFAS
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Common Summertime Eats – Fish and Shellfish: EPA Adds Various PFAS Compounds to Monitoring/Advisory Programs

On July 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued updated recommendations under the Clean Water Act for contaminants that states, Tribes, and territories should consider monitoring in locally caught, freshwater fish. For the first time, the EPA has added several per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) to the contaminant list (e.g., PFDA, PFHxS, PFNA, PFOA, PFOS), in addition to lead, three cyanotoxins, a flame retardant, and amphetamine.

States, Tribes, and territories monitor and analyze contaminants in fish and shellfish caught in local, fresh waterbodies. When they …

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