EPA Calls for Public Comment on “Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos”

Schnader’s Cary Stewart Sklaren has published a new Client Alert, “EPA Calls for Public Comment on ‘Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos.'” It reads in part:

The U.S. Environmental Protective Agency (EPA), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and Toxics, on March 30, 2020, has issued a “Draft Risk Evaluation for Asbestos” for public comment and peer review. The Risk Evaluation will potentially affect businesses involved with both current and legacy asbestos-containing products. See this page for the “Draft risk evaluation and supporting documents,” which can be accessed at the fourth bullet point at the end of the first section. Comments are due 60 days after the publication of the Federal Register Notice, which occurred on April 3, 2020.

The Draft Risk Evaluation is a document that should be carefully reviewed, particularly by those entities that are current or potential defendants in asbestos friction litigation, to ascertain the extent to which the Agency’s potential final conclusions could influence the approach to their defense. As the EPA expresses it: “The preliminary conclusions, findings, and determinations in this draft risk evaluation are for the purposes of identifying whether asbestos presents unreasonable risk or no unreasonable risk under the conditions of use,” in accordance with the Toxic Substances Control Act, section 6. The Risk Evaluation will also be subject to peer review.

Read the full Alert here.

• Sklaren’s client alert was recognized and quoted in formal comments submitted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and others, in response to an April 2020 Request for Regulatory Comment by the Environmental Protection Agency. To see these comments, click here and then download the PDF.