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After being hit with two lawsuits that claimed it was unlawfully delaying a key training requirement in its 2015 revisions to the Worker Protection Standard ((WPS), November 2, 2015, Federal Register (FR)), the EPA announced that it intends to change its position, thereby—and tentatively, at least—conceding to the demands of the plaintiffs.
Since it was signed into law in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) has been amended many times. But in key areas, the OSH Act has remained unchanged since enactment. Recently, legislation has been introduced in Congress to update the OSH Act to extend coverage workers who currently […]
The Trump EPA has issued a final rule to add a nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) category to the list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA). The rule had been proposed by the Obama-era EPA and […]
Occasionally, when OSHA issues new or revised standards, there are two dates of importance for employers subject to those standards. The first is the date OSHA will make compliance mandatory. The second is the date OSHA states it will begin enforcing noncompliance. In some cases, the two dates may be the same. But with standards […]
The EPA possesses substantial flexibility in how it considers the costs and benefits of regulations it promulgates. That flexibility is inherent in the environmental statutes, which sometimes require that costs be considered in rulemaking and sometimes make no mention of costs/benefits, but, in any case, rarely specify how such consideration should occur. This has given […]
The AGs from eight states plus the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have together filed suit against the EPA for its alleged failure to implement the Obama administration’s 2016 municipal landfill emissions guidelines (August 29, 2016, Federal Register (FR)) according to the timeline mandated by the Clean Air Act (CAA).
The current administration’s two-part rulemaking to first rescind and then replace the prior administration’s Clean Water Rule to define the Clean Water Act (CWA) term Waters of the United States ((WOTUS rule), June 29, 2015, Federal Register (FR)) derives from two positions.
Cal/OSHA, California’s state regulatory agency responsible for occupational safety and health, is known for being stricter and more active in rulemaking than its federal counterpart. Here, we provide key information about the status of several current rulemaking efforts, upcoming compliance deadlines, and standards taking effect soon for California employers.
As part of a trio of actions taken under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the EPA has proposed the first-ever Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) for asbestos.
In a final rule promulgated without a prior proposal, the EPA is revising regulations associated with the definition of solid waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The revisions apply specifically to rules the Agency issued in 2008 and 2015, which addressed the conditions under which hazardous secondary materials (HSMs) are legitimately recycled.