Eric Gotting and David Fischer Quoted in Inside TSCA Article on Incoming Trump Administration’s EPA

Keller and Heckman Partner Eric Gotting and Counsel David Fischer were quoted in the Inside TSCA article, “Trump EPA Likely To Seek Broad Rollbacks On TSCA But Faces Hurdles.” The article refers to Keller and Heckman’s recent seminar, Navigating TSCA: Basics and Beyond, where both Eric and David provided predictions on what we are likely to see regarding Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rollbacks within the Trump administration. Trump will potentially try to reverse several of the Biden administration’s TSCA actions but will also face legal barriers and a potential wave of court challenges.

“One thing Trump found out he can’t do -- he found this out in his first administration -- you can’t just take regulations off the books, because we have something called the Administrative Procedures Act that requires notice and comment to repeal a regulation or rule,” said Eric. “That takes a lot of time, a lot of effort.”

Eric added, “You are going to see a ton of litigation to try to slow Trump down, try to hold him to what they believe are the correct interpretations of TSCA.”

David previewed a few changes he expects the new administration to take, including the reversal of the Biden EPA’s “whole chemical” approach to risk evaluations. David noted that “the whole chemical thing is dead. I can’t imagine that court upholding the whole chemical approach -- it’s gone.”

Additionally, David mentioned that the new administration could defer occupational exposures to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “EPA may still evaluate them but then it may not manage them. They may say, ‘We looked at all these [conditions of use (COUs)], OSHA, do what you want with them.’ If OSHA does something, EPA can’t do anything.”

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