On June 25, 2025, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and the George Washington University (GWU) Milken Institute School of Public Health presented "TSCA Reform — Nine Years Later." This virtual conference marked the ninth Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Annual Conference, reflecting on the accomplishments and challenges since the implementation of the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) and where TSCA stands today. Speakers covered a variety of topics, including risk management rules; the risk evaluation framework; new chemical review; key TSCA considerations in the production, use, and recycling of plastics; the role chemicals play in chronic disease; and the prospects for TSCA reform. The fact that there were almost 900 registrants demonstrates the growing and continuous interest in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) challenging implementation of TSCA. A recording of the conference is available online. The conference materials are available on the ELI website.
Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, B&C, and Robert M. Sussman, Principal, Sussman & Associates, welcomed attendees. Sussman moderated Panel 1: Risk Management. The panelists included Keith Bradley, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs; Ryan J. Carra, Ph.D., Principal, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C.; Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, Staff Attorney, Earthjustice; and Randy S. Rabinowitz, Executive Director, OSH Law Project, LLC. The panel discussed the issues being litigated in the five final risk management rules, how the new Administration's approach to risk management is expected to change, and the alignment of EPA's Workplace Chemical Protection Program's (WCPP) with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. More information on the final risk management rules for chrysotile asbestos, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE), and carbon tetrachloride (CTC) is available in our memoranda.
Mark N. Duvall, Principal, Beveridge & Diamond, P.C., moderated Panel 2: Risk Evaluation. The panelists included Rashmi Joglekar, Ph.D., Associate Director of Science & Policy, University of California San Francisco, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment; M. Andrew Maier, Ph.D., Principal Health Scientist, Integral Consulting Inc.; Tosh Sagar, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice; and Karyn M. Schmidt, Principal, Squire Patton Boggs. As reported in our May 5, 2025, blog item, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument in a case challenging EPA's May 2024 final rule amending the procedural framework rule for conducting risk evaluations. The panel discussed the interplay between the risk evaluation case and risk management litigation and reviewed the recent draft formaldehyde and butadiene risk evaluations.
Greg Schweer, Principal, Environmental Consulting, LLC, moderated Panel 3: New Chemical Review. The panelists included Kyla Bennett, Director of Science Policy, Northeast & Mid-Atlantic Director, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER); Lawrence E. Culleen, Partner, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP; Maria J. Doa, Ph.D., Senior Director, Chemical Policy, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF); and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, B&C. The panel discussed premanufacture notice (PMN) completeness and the changes that EPA has implemented in an attempt to reduce rework, as well as EPA's approach to significant new use rules (SNUR).
Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.S., M.P.H., Michael and Lori Milken Dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, introduced Nancy B. Beck, Ph.D., Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), who provided the keynote address. Beck stated that EPA will be redoing the risk framework rule for the third time, noting that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's five pillars include an important one for OCSPP, permitting reform. According to Beck, chemical reviews are essentially permits, and EPA no longer views the goals of protecting the environment and growing the economy as binary choices.
Beck discussed the reorganization of OCSPP, stating that 130 people will be added to OCSPP, including 25 non-General Schedule (GS) level scientists and 20 information technology (IT) positions. According to Beck, one of Zeldin's highest priorities is that OCSPP can meet its statutory obligations. EPA has heard from stakeholders that the 2024 risk evaluation framework rule is confusing, ignores certain information, and could lead to further delays. EPA will be taking another look at aspects of the rule, including the whole chemical determination, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and other conditions of use (COU). EPA hopes to get a rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) "very soon." EPA will need all stakeholders to provide thoughtful and actionable comments.
According to Beck, EPA is speeding the development of SNURs, proposing and issuing final SNURs more quickly. EPA is also expanding the number of low volume exemptions (LVE), completing risk assessments for 100 LVEs in just two months and finishing 57 backlogged LVE cases. To do this, the team took parallel paths rather than sequential paths and bucketed similar chemistries. The Office of Research and Development (ORD) has been building computation tools for LVEs to reduce review time and increase efficiency. OCSPP is actively collaborating with ORD and working together on how to collaborate more and meet statutory authorities.
Martha E. Marrapese, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP, moderated Panel 4: Plastics Production, Use, and Recycling: Key TSCA Considerations. The panelists included Ross Eisenberg, President, America's Plastic Makers"; Eve C. Gartner, Director of Crosscutting Toxics Strategies, Earthjustice; Jessie M. Kneeland, Ph.D., Principal scientist, Gradient® Corporation; and Renee Sharp, Director, Plastics and Petrochemical Advocacy, Environmental Health, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The panel considered TSCA's ability to regulate plastics and chemicals used to make plastics; challenges associated with the life cycle of plastic products and end of life considerations; and how microplastics might be treated under TSCA.
Goldman moderated Panel 5: Chronic Disease: What Role Chemicals Play. The panelists included Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., A.T.S., Scientist Emeritus and Former Director National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program (NTP), Scholar In Residence, Nicolas School of the Environment, Duke University; and Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH, Stony Brook Cancer Center. The panel discussed both global and domestic trends of chronic disease; the role that exposures to chemicals may play for certain cancers and other diseases; and hazard versus dose of exposures, including the context of the exposures.
Daniel Savery, Senior Legislative Representative, Earthjustice, moderated Panel 6: TSCA Reform Redux: Change Beyond Fee Reauthorization? The panelists included Jerry Couri, Senior Policy Director, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers; Liz Hitchcock, Director, Federal Policy Program, Toxic-Free Future; Daniel Rosenberg, Director, Federal Toxics Policy, Environmental Health, NRDC; and Kimberly Wise White, Ph.D., Vice President, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs, American Chemistry Council. The panel discussed whether and how TSCA could be amended when Congress addresses the lapse of TSCA's fee authorization in 2026. The panel considered how well TSCA is working, what changes are under consideration, and what happens if nothing happens.
Jordan Diamond, President, ELI, provided concluding remarks.
Commentary
By any metric, the conference was hugely successful. The panel discussions were robust and lively. Interest in EPA's implementation of TSCA continues to be high, indeed growing. With the number of court challenges, increasing use of Section 21 petitions, and possibility of future amendments, stakeholders must remain engaged and focused, whatever their positions. Only through continued dialogue, engagement, and collaboration will diverse chemical stakeholders achieve the goals Congress set in enacting the Lautenberg Act. ELI's, GWU's, and B&C's facilitation of this important annual conference is an essential element in our collective success in this regard.
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