April 30, 2024

Contact:
Genevieve Strand, MPP
Director, Government Relations
government.relations@socma.org

EPA Releases Methylene Chloride (MCL) Risk Management Final Rule

Today, EPA released a pre-publication of the risk management final rule for Methylene Chloride Regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). While the proposed rule set out to ban almost all uses of methylene chloride, SOCMA was successful in winning allowances for several conditions of use that are critical for SOCMA members. Thanks to SOCMA and its members’ advocacy efforts, EPA has made several positive revisions to the rule:

  • The final rule permits industrial and commercial use of MCL as a processing aid (including its use in a closed-loop system), which the proposed rule initially prohibited. They acknowledge in the rule that this was due to insufficient information at the time of the proposal. 
  • The final rule permits industrial and commercial use of MCL for plastic and rubber products manufacturing, which EPA initially proposed to prohibit. 
  • The final rule includes a de minimis threshold of 0.1%, which was not included in EPA’s initial proposed rulemaking.
  • Extended compliance timeframe with the workplace chemical protection plan (WCPP) were also included in the final rule. Provisions for extension of deadlines on exposure monitoring, ensuring plants are under the ECEL/EPA STEL threshold for all potentially exposed persons, and implementation of an exposure control plan were all included in this rulemaking.

SOCMA would like to thank the many member companies that assisted in our advocacy efforts.

If you have any questions regarding the final rule, please contact Genevieve Strand, Director of Government Relations, at gstrand@socma.org or 571-348-5123.

This issue and other chemical-specific regulations are handled by SOCMA’s Chemical Regulations Committee. If you would like to participate in the committee or receive committee updates, please contact us at government.relations@socma.org

 

 

 

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