WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency told a federal appeals court it will reconsider the Biden administration’s ban on the last type of asbestos used in the United States to determine whether it went “beyond what is necessary.”
Asbestos is linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually and causes mesothelioma as well as other cancers. It has been largely phased out in the United States. Last year, the Biden administration sought to finish the decades-long fight by banning chrysotile asbestos. At the time, the EPA called it a milestone in the fight against cancer.
The EPA on Monday said in a court filing that it would reconsider the Biden administration’s rule over roughly the next 30 months. The agency said the Toxic Substances Control Act requires it to evaluate a chemical’s risk and the consequences of restricting it.
Now, officials will look at whether parts of the ban “went beyond what is necessary to eliminate the unreasonable risk and whether alternative measures — such as requiring permanent workplace protection measures — would eliminate the unreasonable risk,” according to a court declaration by Lynn Ann Dekleva, a senior official in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Chrysotile asbestos is found in products like brake blocks, asbestos diaphragms and sheet gaskets and was banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was broadened in 2016. When the ban was announced, there were eight U.S. facilities that used asbestos diaphragms in the chlor-alkali sector for the manufacture of chlorine and sodium hydroxide, chemicals commonly used as water disinfectants. The facilities were given at least five years to make the change.
The development was first reported by The New York Times.
Advocates blasted the move as weakening prohibitions against a deadly carcinogen.
“This latest move by Administrator Lee Zeldin and EPA is yet another alarming signal that this administration is operating without limits as they dole out favors to polluter lobbyists without regard for the health and well-being of people living in the US,” said Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit.
Zeldin has announced dozens of deregulatory actions in the first months of the Trump administration and former top industry officials are in key EPA positions — Dekleva, for example, used to work at the American Chemistry Council, which was among the groups that filed the court challenge against the Biden administration’s ban. Recently, the EPA proposed a rollback of greenhouse gas rules for coal plants.
The American Chemistry Council said it supports the agency’s move to ensure rules “use a risk-based approach consistent with the best available science.”
The EPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.
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