Author: Oliver E. Twaddell

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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EPA Offices, Washington DC
EPA / PFAS
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EPA Releases Updated Guidance on Destroying and Disposing PFAS

In furtherance of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which our firm has written about frequently, the EPA released an updated guide on destroying and disposing of PFAS.

According to EPA, the updated guidance (found here) reflects the “latest, best available science” to provide information that managers of PFAS wastes can use to evaluate the most appropriate destruction, disposal, or storage method. EPA instructs that the primary audience of this guidance are decision makers who need to identify the most effective …

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Water faucet
Cybersecurity / Emerging Issues
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EPA Enforcement Alert: It’s Critical for Community Water Systems to Review Cybersecurity Protections

The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this week issued an enforcement alert, explaining cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities to community drinking water systems (CWSs) and actions needed by these systems in order to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

The alert is part of a government-wide effort – led by the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – to reduce the nation’s infrastructure and cybersecurity vulnerabilities. EPA issued the alert because threats to, and attacks on, the nation’s water system …

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Stock of barrels with chemicals at an industrial plant
CERCLA / PFOA / PFOS
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EPA Reopens Pandora’s Box with CERCLA Designations of PFOA & PFOS; Seeks to Minimize Apprehension with Enforcement Policy

As our readers are likely familiar from our past blog posts here, here and here, in September 2022, EPA proposed to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under section 102(a) of Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Now, EPA has made it final: the agency has designated perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), including their salts and structural isomers, as hazardous substances (See Pre-Publication Notice).

EPA concluded that designation of those two substances is warranted “because both …

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