Tom Berger quoted in Inside TSCA article on EPA’s Rare TSCA ‘Alert’

Keller and Heckman Partner Tom Berger was quoted in Inside TSCA’s February 9th article “EPA Raises Rare TSCA ‘Alert’ As Industry Sees Stepped-Up Enforcement.” The article discusses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent memo that warns regulated industries against imports of ski wax containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) not listed on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) inventory of chemicals in commerce. Tom highlighted the memo during Keller and Heckman’s February 9 TSCA 30/30 webinar on toxics enforcement, indicating it as a potential harbinger of more aggressive TSCA implementation under the Biden administration. “Basically, everything is on the table with respect to enforcement,” Tom said, referencing not only the January memo but also a Sept. 21 EPA presentation on priorities for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance that he said listed several TSCA provisions as potential focus areas.

The article states that according to the agency’s database of enforcement alerts, this is the first such memo it has sent for a TSCA issue since at least 2019. The article further references Tom’s February 9th presentation when he shared the areas of the law where EPA signaled possible enforcement pushes. Tom urged regulated companies to take advantage of EPA’s audit policy that allows facilities to self-report certain violations to the agency in order to secure more lenient penalties rather than waiting for inspections, telling listeners, “the audit policy is alive and well . . . the audit policy works very well for TSCA violations.”

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