In a first-time decision, a federal judge has denied EPA’s request to dismiss environmentalists’ lawsuit charging that EPA had wrongly dismissed their Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) petition seeking to ban drinking water fluoridation, but the decision could complicate other litigation challenging which “uses” the agency considers when assessing substances under the new TSCA law.
Judge Edward Chen, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Dec. 21 in Food & Water Watch Inc., et al, v. EPA, that the new TSCA law allows citizens to petition EPA to regulate single uses of substances, a stance at odds with the agency’s position in this case but one that appears to support its framework rules that grant the agency discretion to determine which uses to evaluate for possible regulation…
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