EPA Must Consider Health Dangers Of Products Even If They’re Currently Not Being Manufactured, Court Rules
The EPA under the Trump administration originally proposed only assessing the risks of chemicals, like asbestos, that were entering the marketplace, and not concentrate on the products that were already laced with the toxins. A coalition of unions, safety advocates and scientific groups had sued to block the EPA proposal released in 2017.
The Associated Press:
Court Rules Trump EPA Unlawfully Ignored Dangerous Chemicals
The Trump administration unlawfully excluded millions of tons of some of the most dangerous materials in public use from a safety review, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must consider dangers posed by asbestos, lead and other toxins regardless of whether they’re still being manufactured. (Brown, 11/14)
Meanwhile, in Louisiana —
ProPublica/The Times-Picayune/The Advocate:
New EPA Rules Aim To Reduce Toxic Emissions. But Many “Cancer Alley” Chemical Plants Won’t Have To Change.
Environmental groups had been waiting nearly three years for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to comply with a federal judge’s orders to update Clean Air Act rules governing emissions of various toxic chemicals. The agency finally proposed those new rules last week, saying they would reduce emissions of ethylene oxide, a carcinogen that the EPA recently determined is more dangerous than the agency once believed. (Schleifstein, 11/14)
