EPA chemical rules face litigation onslaught

By Ellie Borst | 01/15/2025 01:27 PM EST

More than 25 lawsuits have been filed over Biden administration regulations by environmental, industry and worker safety groups.

Laboratory glassware.

Recent EPA chemical rules face a barrage of lawsuits. AP

EPA has amassed more than two dozen lawsuits over its most recent chemicals rules over the past two weeks, but intervention from a Republican-dominated Congress or the incoming Trump administration could supplant pending judicial review.

Various industry, environmental and worker safety groups have filed at least 26 petitions in federal appeals courts over the agency’s regulations restricting trichloroethylene (TCE), perchloroethylene (PCE) and carbon tetrachloride (CTC) and its framework for conducting new chemical reviews.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation randomly selected the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear arguments over its ban on TCE, a carcinogenic chemical famously used in dry cleaning and a notorious water pollutant.

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The panel’s order, issued Tuesday, consolidated 12 petitions for review pending in nine circuit courts.

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