Just in time for the holidays – and the growing season – the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted new registrations for pesticides to be used on hemp crops, including, for the first time, hemp used in the production
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EPA
Prop 65 Battle Royale over Glyphosate: EPA vs. OEHHA
By Joseph Green on
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which administers Proposition 65, wasted no time in punching back at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which declared, in an August 8 press release, that Prop 65 labeling identifying the…
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The FOIA Charade: A Brief Case Study
By Joseph Green on
With the release last month of proposed new EPA regulations on how the agency intends to handle responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), critics have raised concerns about provisions that would give authority to senior management…
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EPA Punts on Meaningful Revisions to TSCA Reporting of Recycled Byproducts
By Joseph Green on
In 2017, at the direction of a provision in the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which fundamentally reformed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA convened a group of stakeholders representing environmental groups, states,…
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EPA Proposes Changes to Key Chemical Data Reporting Rule
By Joseph Green on
The U.S. EPA announced today proposed amendments to the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule with an aim “to better support Agency data collection efforts, align reporting with the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act by requiring…
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EPA Issues First Set of Priority Chemicals for TSCA Risk Assessment
By Joseph Green on
Earlier today, US EPA released the inaugural draft list of 20 “high priority” and 20 “low priority” chemicals for risk evaluation purposes as required by the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA must finalize the listings…
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Pesticide Enforcement Alert: EPA Targeting On-Line Sales
By Joseph Green on
Consistent with consumer trends and the ever-increasing role of internet sales, U.S. EPA is targeting on-line pesticide sales as an enforcement priority. In a preview of the anticipated April 1 release of preliminary agency enforcement priorities, Acting Deputy Director of…
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EPA Rule Addressing Methylene Chloride Risks Stalled by “Shutdown” … While Activists File First “New TSCA” Court Challenge for EPA Failure to Act
By Joseph Green on
During confirmation hearings before Congress last week, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler indicated that a long-awaited EPA rule to restrict consumer and commercial uses of methylene chloride as a paint and coating remover has been delayed by the government shutdown,…
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Enviro Groups May Have Christmas Lump of Coal for EPA: Set to Sue on EPA Decision Not to Develop New “SPCC” Program for Spills of Hazardous Substances
By Joseph Green on
Environmental groups have filed a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its still draft decision not to establish a program to address potential spills of hazardous substances similar to the existing “Spill Prevention, Countermeasure…
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Midterm Elections Signal Increase in TSCA Oversight
By Joseph Green on
With Democrats now in control of the House, Congressional oversight of EPA’s implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is set to ramp up. The expected incoming chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee,…
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