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The June 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) expanded the categories of persons who may request confidential business information (CBI) about chemicals, which regulated entities submitted to the EPA.
In 2017, California became the first state in the nation to implement a regulation requiring health care employers to take steps to prevent workplace violence. That rule took effect in April 2018. Now, the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA, is developing a similar standard for general industry.
Brett Kavanaugh has been announced as President Donald Trump’s choice to replace Anthony Kennedy on the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s a brief summary of the judicial nominee’s decisions, rulings, and court opinions on various EHS-related cases in recent years on the D.C. Circuit.
Proposition 65, or Prop 65, product-safety warnings, once eye-catching and nerve-wracking, have become so ubiquitous that many would contend they have lost their intended effect.
In a notice, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) says it is beginning a retrospective study on how effective its 2014 final rule has been in lowering the exposure of underground and surface miners to respirable coal dust.
Based on “additional information and analysis,” the EPA is proposing to determine that its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) Update for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) (October 26, 2016, Federal Register (FR)) satisfies the Agency’s obligation to issue federal implementation plans (FIPs) for 20 states to address air pollution from those […]
U.S. OSHA confirmed the July 6, 2018, effective date for amendments to the final general industry standard for exposure to beryllium and beryllium compounds (January 9, 2017, Federal Register (FR)). OSHA issued the amendments in a direct final rule (May 7, 2018, FR) to address the application of the standard to materials containing trace amounts […]
Beginning January 1, 2019, employers with employees who apply pesticides by spray to agricultural fields in Oregon will be subject to state rules to protect agricultural workers, the pesticide applicators, and others, including the families of these workers. The rules parallel those in EPA’s Worker Protection Standard (WPS) but, according to Oregon OSHA, are more […]
On July 5, in a tweet, President Trump accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator. “Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this,” stated Trump. The president added that on Monday, Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler will step in as Acting EPA Administrator.
In a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Supplemental Proposal), the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) note that their July 27, 2017, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to repeal the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Water Rule defining the Clean Water Act (CWA) term Waters of the United States (WOTUS) prompted 685,000 public comments both […]