EPA Sends TCE TSCA Extension IFR to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received an interim final rule from the EPA on “Trichloroethylene (TCE); Regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Compliance Date Extension”. That rulemaking was not listed in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda (yes, finally published yesterday, more on that in separate blog posts).

The EPA published their final rule on TSCA regulation of TCE in December 2024. Not unexpectedly there was a joint resolution proposed (actually two resolutions: HJ Res 34 and SJ Res 19) that would have disapproved that final rule. No action has been taken on either resolution. This would seem to indicate that even some environmentally insensitive Republicans have some reservations about TCE safety.

The EPA has extended that deadline three separate times by notice in the Federal Register:

April 2^nd, 2025,

June 23^rd, 2025, and

August 20^th, 2025

The current extension of the effective date runs through November 17^th, 2025. Presumably the proposed IFR would provide for a longer extension and provide some additional research requirements on the EPA.