The EPA is banning or significantly restricting five particularly troublesome chemicals used in the electronics, petroleum, plastics, rubber, and other industries.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued final rules Tuesday for controlling five chemicals, including HCBD, or hexachlorobutadiene, which is unintentionally produced as a byproduct when chlorinated solvents are made.
Its regulation is the regulatory package’s main surprise. The agency had proposed to conclude restrictions weren’t needed as other federal and state regulations control the chemical.
All five chemicals persist in the environment for many years, build up in the food chain, and are toxic, and are called PBTs. A ...