Lawrence Halprin Authors a Washington Legal Foundation Paper on a Methylene Chloride Proposal

Keller and Heckman Partner Lawrence Halprin authored a Washington Legal Foundation paper titled, "A Methylene Chloride Proposal: An EPA Template for Superseding OSHA on Workplace Chemical Regulation." By "reflecting on the implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) under the Biden Administration," Lawrence argues that "it appears the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will eventually supersede and largely replace the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as the agency with primary responsibility for establishing substance-specific toxic chemical standards for the workplace." Throughout the article, Lawrence reviews 1) statutory authority for substance-specific regulation of “existing” toxic chemicals under the OSH Act and TSCA; 2) EPA’s proposed methylene chloride risk management rule; 3) some areas of concern with the EPA proposal; and 4) the role of EPA and TSCA in regulating workplace exposures to hazardous chemicals.

Lawrence concludes the article with this final thought: "It seems likely that EPA and OSHA are going to find a way to integrate their enforcement functions so that EPA and OSHA are not enforcing different exposure limits for the same chemical in the same facility."

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