EPA Tells Court Methylene Chloride Rule Needed, True to Statute

The EPA’s final methylene chloride restrictions are justified by the solvent’s deadly potential and other harms and are fully consistent with the requirements of the nation’s primary commercial chemicals law, the agency has told a federal court.

The Environmental Protection Agency submitted its first court brief Dec. 13 responding to what’s expected to be multiple legal challenges to new types of rules it began issuing this year to comply with new mandates made by the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act amendments.

The crux of industry groups, which maintain the methylene chloride rule is too stringent, and the ...