The Nickel Report

In December 2023, federal agencies released their “Fall 2023” Regulatory Agendas that provide an outlook for numerous upcoming regulatory actions on chemicals that could have significant implications for the regulated community. Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s chemical regulatory team has provided analyses of these upcoming regulatory actions:

• EPA’s Recent Release of its “Fall 2023” Regulatory Agenda: Upcoming PFAS-Related Actions
• EPA’s Recent Release of its “Fall 2023” Regulatory Agenda: Upcoming Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Actions

PFAS

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and US Department of Defense (DoD) released their Fall 2023 Unified Agendas of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions detailing upcoming rulemakings, including actions related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These agencies are initiating PFAS-related regulatory actions that will pose new compliance challenges with far-reaching implications for a broad spectrum of the regulated community and affected stakeholders. Among these regulatory items are:

• EPA’s final national primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO–DA) and its ammonium salt (also known as a GenX chemicals)
• EPA’s final rule designating PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances
• EPA’s proposed listing of PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, and GenX as RCRA hazardous constituents
• DoD’s proposal to prohibit the Department from procuring certain products containing PFOA or PFOS

TSCA

EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) has released a robust agenda that continues to reflect the following priorities: advancing risk management regulations for several chemicals, clarifying procedures for new and existing chemical evaluations, data collection, addressing PFAS, and substantially increasing fees from companies regulated under TSCA. Among the TSCA-related regulatory items are:

• EPA’s final risk management rules for five of the “first ten” chemicals
• EPA’s proposed rule to request manufacturers of certain existing chemicals to submit unpublished health and safety data to help EPA identify chemicals for prioritization, among other uses
• EPA’s revisions to its framework rules for reviews of new chemicals (including premanufacture notice reviews) and existing chemical risk evaluations
• EPA’s proposed Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) for high-priority chemicals, including “phthalates,” “certain solvents,” and chemicals undergoing risk evaluation. These will follow EPA’s recent release of SNURs for flame retardants and PFAS substances that are on the “inactive portion” of the TSCA Inventory.
• EPA’s additional proposed risk evaluations for the flame retardant Tris(2-chloroethyl) Phosphate  (TCEP) and other forthcoming chemicals

Please contact our team for more information.