EPA released this past Friday the agency’s draft strategy for examining health and environmental risks in communities that reside near facilities that emit chemicals undergoing TSCA review.  The “fenceline communities screening strategy” is an initial and explicit injection of “environmental…
Continue Reading EPA “Fenceline Communities Screening Strategy” Aims to Advance Environmental Justice Agenda

Just about an hour ago, the Supreme Court reinstated a nationwide stay of OSHA’s temporary emergency standard related to COVID-19, including the vaccination/testing requirements that were scheduled to be enforced starting in February.  The court, in an unsigned opinion that…
Continue Reading Breaking News: Supreme Court Stays OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination Standard

Almost a year after initially proposing revisions that would substantially curtail use of the popular “short form” warnings under Proposition 65 (see my prior blog post for more details), the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has…
Continue Reading California Tweaks Proposed Revisions to Limit Use of Prop 65 “Short Form” Warnings (Updated)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final National Recycling Strategy, released yesterday, includes prominent mention of “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) as a prime example of programs that advance the “circular economy” by increasing “materials recovery at the state and…
Continue Reading New EPA Nationwide Recycling Strategy Highlights “Extended Producer Responsibility” Programs in Advancing the “Circular Economy”

As the U.S. EPA embarks on a full review of regulations addressing the sale, distribution and use of five “persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic” (PBT) substances, the agency already is proposing to extend until 2024 the compliance date with the existing…
Continue Reading EPA Proposes Extension Until 2024 for Compliance with Problematic PBT Rule

(Virtually – once again) Live from San Francisco, Kelley Green Law Blog is reporting today from the Prop 65 Clearinghouse 2021 Conference … the largest annual gathering of stakeholders from the full spectrum of actors involved with California’s “Proposition 65,”…
Continue Reading The Prop 65 Annual Conference: Notes from the Front 2021

Signaling a notable advance in “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) policies, on July 13, Maine became the first U.S. state to require companies to pay fees related to the type and quantity of packaging for products sold in the state, in…
Continue Reading Maine Law Heralds Wave of “Extended Producer Responsibility” Mandates for Product Packaging

A coalition of environmental, food safety, and consumer health advocacy groups petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday to ban per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from food contact uses, and to “take aggressive action to protect consumers from…
Continue Reading FDA Considers Petition to Ban PFAS Food Uses, As Companies Move Toward Phase-Out

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding three per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of substances reportable under the agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting program.  Consistent with a recently leaked document highlighting priorities of the Office of Pollution …
Continue Reading EPA Expands List of PFAS Subject to TRI Reporting

The new 2021-2023 strategic plan of the U.S. EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) floats a series of potential expanded reporting requirements under the agency’s Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) and Environmental Protection and…
Continue Reading EPA Considering Expanded TSCA CDR and TRI Reporting Requirements, Environmental Justice Analyses

In the latest of a string of potentially ground-altering developments under California’s Proposition 65, a federal judge has temporarily enjoined plaintiffs from initiating new cases alleging failure to warn for foods and beverages that expose consumers to acrylamide, a Prop…
Continue Reading Court Injunction Hints at Prop 65 Relief for Acrylamide in Foods