Another Postponement for TCE Requirements

An EPA rule published Tuesday in the Federal Register postpones certain provisions of the agency’s trichloroethylene (TCE) risk management regulation pertaining to exemptions specified under section 6(g) of the Toxic Substances Control Act. 

Issued in December 2024, EPA’s final risk management rule prohibited all uses of TCE, a solvent used in vapor degreasing and the manufacture of refrigerants. Using its authority under TSCA section 6(g), EPA permitted some uses of TCE to continue for several years provided companies complied with a workplace chemical protection program and implemented controls to limit occupational exposure to TCE.

Several companies sued EPA over the requirements of the TCE workplace chemical protection program stipulation, and the agency has postponed the effective date of the requirements on multiple occasions. In the rule published this week, EPA delays the requirements “until the conclusion of judicial review.”

For more information, read the rule in the Federal Register and the TCE risk management page on EPA’s website.