Legal Vacatur of the EPA Methylene Chloride Rule

This episode discusses a judicial opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit regarding the regulation of methylene chloride. The court vacated a strict rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that sought to nearly eliminate the chemical's market under the Toxic Substances Control Act. According to the ruling, the EPA committed legal errors by adopting a "whole chemical" risk approach and ignoring the use of personal protective equipment in its safety assumptions. Furthermore, the court determined that the agency’s extreme exposure limits lacked substantial evidence and failed to properly consider economic consequences or feasible alternatives. While industry petitions were granted, the court denied a petition from the Sierra Club, which had argued that the regulations did not go far enough to protect vulnerable communities.