Environmental Protection Agency April 9, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action announces the availability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) response to a petition received on January 4, 2024, from the Washington State Department of Ecology (the petitioner), asking EPA to initiate rulemaking under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to safeguard public health against PCBs in consumer products. EPA shares the petitioner's concerns regarding risks to human health and the environment posed by PCBs, and the Agency continues to work towards better understanding and reducing exposures to PCBs. However, the petitioner failed to point with any specificity to deficiencies in the Agency's 1984 final rule and determination of no unreasonable risk under TSCA. As a result, the petitioner has not provided adequate justificationbased on the rulemaking process and record for the 1984 final rule and information provided or otherwise available to the Agencyto support reassessing the limits on allowable inadvertent PCBs in consumer products. Thus, EPA finds that the petition is insufficiently specific, and that the petitioner did not meet their burden under TSCA of establishing that it is necessary to amend the 1984 final rule. These deficiencies, among other findings, are detailed in this notice and serve as the reasons for the Agency's denial of the petition. As necessary and appropriate to supplement ongoing Agency efforts, EPA may consider information gathering activities under TSCA to collect data needed to better understand and characterize exposure and risk associated with inadvertently generated PCBs.