Beginning on June 8, 2020, the federal district court for the Northern District of California will hold a bench trial using Zoom in the lawsuit challenging EPA’s denial of a TSCA Section 21 petition requesting that EPA regulate fluoridation of drinking water pursuant to Section 6(a) of TSCA.
The trial will be bifurcated. First, the court will conduct a de novo review of the petition and determine whether the plaintiffs demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that fluoridation presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.
If the court determines that unreasonable risk exists, it will determine whether EPA can defer the Section 6(a) rulemaking process pursuant to Section 20, which allows the court to permit EPA to defer if the court finds “that the extent of the risk to health or the environment alleged by the petitioner is less than the extent of risks to health or the environment with respect to which the Administrator is taking action under this chapter and there are insufficient resources available to the Administrator to take the action requested by the petitioner.”
*Original article online at https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/perspectives/publications/2020/05/the-chemical-compound#Article1
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