After what has amounted to a multi-year rulemaking process, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) finalized amendments to the short-form warnings under Proposition 65 on December 6, 2024. The amendments (outlined in full here) require that short-form warnings include at least one chemical name, along with other options for safe harbor warning. … Continue Reading
Automotive manufacturers, regulators and consumers face considerable uncertainty on how the incoming Trump Administration will attempt to reshape the automotive industry when President Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20, 2025. Significant changes are on the horizon, with President Trump’s major campaign themes, including protectionist trade policies and an “all of the … Continue Reading
As evidenced by the Department of Justice’s recent announcement of a US$2 million criminal fine assessed against the owners of the tanker P/S Dream as part of a guilty plea, violations of federal environmental laws governing vessel discharge can carry significant consequences. Stakeholders should take note that the EPA recently announced the final Vessel Incidental … Continue Reading
Keith Bradly, Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP Partner and Co-Chair of the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice, authored an article for Bloomberg Law discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in SEC v. Jarkesy. The Court found that when the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks civil penalties for securities fraud, the Seventh Amendment affords a … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) published its controversial final “walkaround” rule on April 1, 2024. The final rule clarifies the rights of employees to authorize a representative – employee or non-employee – to accompany an OSHA compliance officer (CSHO) during an inspection of their workplace. This can include a … Continue Reading
On February 28, 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) published a news release regarding the voluntary market phase-out of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in grease-proofing substances used on food packaging. The FDA stated that the completion of this phase-out “eliminates the primary source of dietary exposure to PFAS from authorized food contact uses.”… Continue Reading
Fishermen in the small town of Cape May, New Jersey, are at the epicenter of a legal challenge that could reshape the landscape of agency authority. The fishermen are challenging the entrenched “Chevron” doctrine, which for years has afforded deference to government agencies with respect to reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutes. Once again, the US … Continue Reading
On December 2, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the pre-publication version of its Final Rule for standards of performance in the Oil and Natural Gas sector. The original proposed rule, published on November 15, 2021, sought to strengthen methane standards for new sources (New Source Performance Standards or NSPS), establish nationwide … Continue Reading
Our team at Squire Patton Boggs monitors environmental justice (EJ) developments and provides periodic updates regarding environmental justice topics. Recently, US EPA released draft revisions to its Technical Guidance for Assessing Environmental Justice in Regulatory Analysis (EJ Technical Guidance), and US EPA is currently seeking public comments through January 15, 2024. … Continue Reading
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently released a prepublication version of its final rule establishing a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions measure. The final rule establishes a method for measurement of GHG emissions associated with transportation and requires state departments of transportation (State DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) that have National Highway System (NHS) routes … Continue Reading
On November 9, 2023, the FDA published notice of final guidance that delays FDA’s enforcement of some facilities’ registration and product listing compliance requirements under MOCRA to July 1, 2024. This enforcement delay applies to facilities that “engaged in manufacturing or processing of a cosmetic product” or products as of MOCRA’s enactment date (December 29, … Continue Reading
In August 2023, the FDA released draft guidance on upcoming regulatory changes pursuant to MOCRA, including guidance on cosmetic product facility registrations and product listings. MOCRA applies to any establishment that manufactures or processes cosmetics products. According to the draft guidance, the FDA is in the process of creating a new online portal for facility … Continue Reading
The White House has announced long-awaited final guidance to federal agencies to implement domestic content and manufacturing requirements in federally funded infrastructure projects. The Biden administration guidance applies broadly to the use of iron, steel, and other common construction materials and products and, as a result, is expected to have broad implications for awardees of … Continue Reading
Would you rather pay your bills tomorrow or next year? What about your paycheck? Intuitively, most people want delayed costs and immediate benefits, and so want checks now and liability later. This poses a challenge for policymakers when weighing the costs and benefits of a new policy: is reasonable to pay 90 cents today for … Continue Reading
The Environmental Law Institute will host its seventh annual Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Reform conference on Thursday, June 29, 2023 from 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET. In this webinar, panelists will discuss challenges and accomplishments since the implementation of the 2016 Lautenberg Amendments and where the TSCA stands today. Topics will include risk … Continue Reading
On May 25, 2023, the US Supreme Court, in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, ___ US_ (2023) (“Sackett”) held that “waters of the United States” for purposes of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) refer “only to geographical features that are described in ordinary parlance as “streams, oceans, rivers and lakes’ and to … Continue Reading
In a heavily fractured decision last month, the U.S. Supreme Court held in National Pork Producers Council, et al v. Ross, et al, that a California law (Cal. Health & Safety Code 25991, known as Proposition 12), which forbids the in-state sale of whole pork meat that comes from breeding pigs “confined in a cruel … Continue Reading
Previously, we discussed the Biden-Harris Administration’s emphasis on cybersecurity in the water utility sector. This month, the Administration continued that trend by issuing a final memorandum interpreting the regulatory requirements pertaining to public water system (PWS) sanitary surveys to require that states evaluate operational technology for cybersecurity when conducting the periodic sanitary surveys. A fact … Continue Reading
President Biden signed into law the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023” on December 29, 2022 (the enactment date). The Act includes the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (“MOCRA”) which increases the authority of the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) to regulate cosmetics and provide enhanced protections for consumers. The new law includes … Continue Reading
In 2022, US EPA indicated that it would take a more aggressive stance on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). US EPA developed a PFAS Strategic Roadmap for 2021-2024 that sets timelines by which US EPA plans to take specific actions and sets out its three main directives: 1) research PFAS exposure; 2) restrict PFAS from … Continue Reading
As interest in regulating the production and use of plastics continues to grow, users of chemicals related to plastics should take note of the newly proposed “Protecting Communities from Plastics Act,” introduced in Congress on December 1, 2022 (the Act). The Act is intended to identify potential health effects of certain plastics, limit their production, and … Continue Reading
As automotive technologies evolve, particularly in regard to autonomous vehicles (AVs), legislators struggle to keep pace. The lack of a binding legislative framework for AVs leaves regulators on their own in determining if and how to establish new safety standards. Here, we provide a general overview of recent legislative efforts, the National Highway Safety Administration’s … Continue Reading
Lead was once a common additive in fuels, paints, glasses, batteries, pipes, ceramics, and more. As the health effects of lead exposure came to be better known, Congress and EPA began targeting lead pollution under a variety of laws and regulations governing air and water pollution, including the Toxic Substances Control Act, Residential Lead-Based Paint … Continue Reading
A recording of PFAS, REACH and Other Chemical Regulatory Issues the second webinar in our two-part 2022 Chemicals Workshop webinar series, in partnership with the Ohio Chemistry Technology Council (OCTC), is now available. In this session, we provided an overview of the rapidly evolving landscape related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including the proposed … Continue Reading
