Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted in Chemical & Engineering News Article “EPA kicks chemical regulations down the road”

On March 19, 2025, comments by Lynn L. Bergeson were featured in Chemical & Engineering News’ article regarding delays by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on hazardous substance restrictions.

The EPA and industry both want certainty regarding the agency’s legal positions, say lawyers who work closely with chemical companies. “Industry would like predictability and certainty so it can plan accordingly,” says Lynn Bergeson, managing partner at the Washington, DC–based law firm Bergeson & Campbell.

[…]

“It is a bona fide mess,” Bergeson says. “We’re just in this legal quagmire now.” She points to the similarities in issues that are likely to be brought up in these separate TSCA cases being heard in separate circuits. Given the redundancy, she says, “this is all undoubtedly headed to the Supreme Court.”

[…]

Lawyers who work in the chemical space say requests to delay litigation are not unusual. “Every incoming administration has, unsurprisingly, and to me, reasonably, asked for opportunities to review the litigation positions the prior administration has asserted in important cases,” Bergeson says.

But Bergeson says she is surprised to see the EPA granting requests from industry to extend comment periods for chemical rules and risk evaluations under TSCA. Since Trump took office, the agency has extended comment periods for a proposed rule on pigment violet 29, a draft scoping document for vinyl chloride, and draft risk evaluations for 1,3-butadiene and dicyclohexyl phthalate.

“The prior administration was very, very reluctant to extend these comment periods,” Bergeson says. “So this administration is either more generous in granting time and is not adhering to the same schedule, or recognizes that, given the disarray that we’re all experiencing, more time might be a good thing.”

See – https://cen.acs.org/policy/chemical-regulation/EPA-kicks-chemical-regulations-down/103/web/2025/03