OMB Approves EPA’s Methylene Chloride Final Rule

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule for the EPA on “Methylene Chloride (MC); Regulation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)”. The final rule was submitted to OIRA on January 24^th, 2024. The notice of proposed rulemaking was published on May 3^rd, 2023.

According to the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“On May 5, 2023, EPA proposed a rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)  to address the unreasonable risk of injury to human health from methylene chloride. TSCA requires that EPA address by rule any unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment identified in a TSCA risk evaluation and apply requirements to the extent necessary so that the chemical no longer presents unreasonable risk. Methylene chloride, also known as dichloromethane, is acutely lethal, a neurotoxicant, a likely human carcinogen, and presents cancer and non-cancer risks following chronic exposures as well as acute risks. Central nervous system depressant effects can result in loss of consciousness and respiratory depression, resulting in irreversible coma, hypoxia, and eventual death, including 85 documented fatalities from 1980 to 2018, a majority of which were occupational fatalities. Nevertheless, methylene chloride is still a widely used solvent in a variety of consumer and commercial applications including adhesives and sealants, automotive products, and paint and coating removers. To address the identified unreasonable risk, EPA proposed to: prohibit the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of methylene chloride for consumer use; prohibit most industrial and commercial uses of methylene chloride; require a workplace chemical protection program (WCPP), which would include a requirement to meet inhalation exposure concentration limits and exposure monitoring for certain continued conditions of use of methylene chloride; require recordkeeping and downstream notification requirements for several conditions of use of methylene chloride; and provide certain time-limited exemptions from requirements for uses of methylene chloride that would otherwise significantly disrupt national security and critical infrastructure. The Agency’s development of this rule incorporated significant stakeholder outreach and public participation, including public webinars and over 40 external meetings as well as required Federalism, Tribal, and Environmental Justice consultations and a Small Businesses Advocacy Review Panel. EPA's risk evaluation, describing the conditions of use is in docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2019-0437, with the 2022 unreasonable risk determination and additional materials in docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0742.”

The EPA maintains a methylene chloride risk management web site.

We could see the final rule published in the Federal Register in the next couple of weeks. I do not expect to cover the final rule in any depth, but I will announce its publication on the appropriate ‘Short Takes’ post.

Bills Introduced – 4-18-24

Yesterday, with both the House and Senate in session, there were 76 bills introduced. One of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog:

HR 8070 To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2025 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes. Rogers, Mike D. [Rep.-R-AL-3] 

Short Takes – 4-18-24

The race to produce rare earth elements. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “That technology extracts rare earth elements from coal ash, leaving behind a solution rich in those elements and a residual solid containing iron and other metals. Through sequential steps of heating and cooling, rare earths are transferred into an ionic liquid—a salt in liquid state—via a proton-exchange mechanism. Acid-based reduction techniques and salt-based leaching can reduce the amount of iron in the final solution, after which rare earths must be further separated to produce pure metals or oxides. Rivalia can sell primary outputs to companies that handle subsequent processing steps or to manufacturers using rare earths, and sell residual solids to concrete producers. Stoy says Rivalia’s efforts will produce materials that could be used for cleaner products and alternative energy sources. Furthermore, they could help reduce the carbon footprint of concrete production by repurposing the solid residue as a replacement for emission-­heavy Portland cement—a major ingredient in concrete.”

Hydrogen trains could revolutionize how Americans get around. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “Things may be starting to shift in the US as well, albeit slowly. BNSF appears to have softened its stance against electrification on a corridor it owns in Southern California, where it has agreed to allow California High-Speed Rail to construct overhead wire on its right of way. Rizzo and her group are looking to make these projects easier by sponsoring state legislation exempting overhead wire from the California Environmental Quality Act. That would prevent situations like a 2015 environmental lawsuit from the affluent Bay Area suburb of Atherton, over tree removal and visual impact, that delayed Caltrain’s electrification project for nearly two years.”

Astronomers Discover Milky Way's 'Sleeping Giant' Black Hole Shockingly Close to Earth. ScientificAmerican.com article. 2,000 light years equals ‘shockingly close’? Pull quote: “Gaia-BH3 is located just 2,000 light years from Earth, making it the second-closest black hole to our planet ever discovered. The closest black hole to Earth is Gaia-BH1 (also discovered by Gaia), which is 1,560 light-years away. Gaia-BH1 has a mass around 9.6 times that of the sun, making it considerably smaller than this newly discovered black hole.”

Ice age climate analysis reduces worst-case warming expected from rising CO2. Newswise.com article. 5 C reduced to 4 C. Pull quote: ““This paper allows us to produce more confident predictions because it really brings down the upper end of future warming, and says that the most extreme scenario is less likely,” Armour said. “It doesn't really change the lower end, or the average estimate, which remain consistent with all the other lines of evidence.””

How Google’s Location History Program Could Upend Digital Surveillance Law. LawfareMedia.org article. Includes a long discussion about problems with the underlying assumptions. Pull quote: “These facts were apparently central to the lack of Fourth Amendment protection for cell phone location data. As Judge Wilkinson said, “If the default position is that if you were in unless you opted out, that would be one thing. But the default position is that you’re out unless you opted in.” People like Chatrie likely lack a constitutional right in their data, because “they can preserve their privacy with a simple step” by doing nothing and choosing not to opt in.”

Teens are using an unregulated form of THC. Here’s what we know. ScienceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Unclear labeling and imprecise dosage instructions can lead to dangerous amounts of THC in the body. And with the possible presence of contaminants from chemical synthesis, delta-8 products may contain more than meets the eye. “I really worry about these contaminants,” Kruger says. “I worry that they’re actually getting … something different. And I worry about the potency.””

Chinese Organized Crime’s Latest U.S. Target: Gift Cards. ProPublica.org. Pull quote: “Other alleged card-draining runners entered the U.S. legally and told police they were hired via online postings. Donghui Liao was arrested at a Florida Target after employees noticed him removing gift cards from a bag and placing them on racks. Through a translator, he told police that his employer hired him online and mailed gift cards to him, according to court documents. He was paid 30 cents for each card he returned to the rack. Police said they found $60,000 worth of tampered cards in his possession. Liao remains in custody and his case was recently transferred to federal court. The DOJ did not respond to requests for comment and Liao has pleaded innocent.”

Review - 1 Advisory and 2 Updates Published – 4-18-24

Today, CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published a control systems security advisory for products from Unitronics. They also updated two advisories for products from Mitsubishi.

Advisories

Unitronics Advisory - This advisory describes a storing passwords in a recoverable format vulnerability in the Unitronics Vision Standard PLCs.

Updates

Mitsubishi Update #1 - This update provides additional information on an advisory that was originally published on October 14^th, 2021 [removed from paywall] and most recently updated on October 13^th, 2022 (not the dates reported in Section 5 of the advisory).

Mitsubishi Update #2 - This update provides additional information on an advisory that was originally published on September 7^th, 2021 and most recently updated on October 13^th, 2022.

 

For more details about these advisories, including a down-the-rabbit hole look at a missing Mitsubishi update that leads to more holes in the NVD.NIST.gov database, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/1-advisory-and-2-updates-published-ef9 - subscription required.

Short Takes – 4-18-24 – Space Geek Edition

Launch of a Reentry Vehicle as a Payload That Requires a Reentry Authorization To Return to Earth. Federal Register FAA notice. Summary: “This action provides notice that in general, the FAA will not authorize launch of a reentry vehicle as a payload that will require a reentry authorization to return to Earth unless the reentry vehicle operator has obtained the appropriate reentry authorization.”

Elon Musk hopes 'fate smiles' on latest Starship rocket test flight. TheNationalNews.com article. Pull quote: ““I don't want to tempt fate … but I think the odds of actually catching the booster with the tower – probably like 80 to 90 per cent this year,” Mr Musk said.”

Boeing's Starliner capsule heads to launch pad for May certification mission. FloridaToday.com article. Lots of pictures, not much text.

China’s 130-ton reusable rocket engine breaks records during tests. InterestingEngineering.com article. Pull quote: “The research team behind the recent engine tests claims the 130-ton reusable liquid oxygen kerosene engine is highly reliable and has strong expandability. To make it function efficiently as a reusable engine, they set out to master multiple ignitions as well as large-range thrust adjustment and other technologies.”

NASA chief warns of Chinese military presence in space. Phys.org.com article. Not much in the way of supporting information. Pull quote: "But you got to be realistic," he added. "China has really thrown a lot of money at it and they've got a lot of room in their budget to grow.”

Astronauts to patch up NASA's NICER telescope. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “"We didn't design NICER for mission servicing. It was installed robotically, and we operate it from the ground," said Keith Gendreau, NICER's principal investigator at Goddard. "The possibility of a repair has been an exciting challenge. We considered both spacewalk and robotic solutions, puzzling out how to install patches using what's already present on the telescope and in space station toolkits."”

Lunar rover racing. TheSpaceReview.com article. Fairly in-depth article. Pull quote: “Both Lunar Dawn and Moon RACER look like one might expect from a slightly futuristic rover design; the illustrations they released looked like something you might expect to see on a sci-fi novel cover, if in some cases oddly streamlined for travel on an airless world. Astrolab’s Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover, though, is different: a boxy design with astronauts standing at the back, it looks less like a lunar rover than a lunar Zamboni.”

OMB Approves EPA TSCA Risk Assessment Final Rule

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a final rule from the EPA on “Procedures for Chemical Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)”. This final rule was submitted to OIRA on March 5^th, 2024. The notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was published on October 30^th, 2023.

According to the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“As required under section 6(b)(4) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA published a final rule in 2017 that established a process for conducting risk evaluations to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment, without consideration of costs or other non-risk factors, including an unreasonable risk to a potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation, under the conditions of use. This process incorporates the science requirements of the amended statute, including best available science and weight of the scientific evidence. The final rule established the steps of a risk evaluation process including: scope, hazard assessment, exposure assessment, risk characterization, and risk determination. The Agency has reconsidered the procedural framework rule for conducting such risk evaluations and determined that certain aspects of that framework should be revised to better align with applicable court decisions and the statutory text, to reflect the Agency’s experience implementing the risk evaluation program following enactment of the 2016 TSCA amendments, and to allow for consideration of future scientific advances in the risk evaluation process without need to further amend the Agency’s procedural rule.”

This rule could be published in the Federal Register in the next couple of weeks. I do not expect to fully cover the provisions of the rule, but I will not the publication of the final rule in the appropriate Short Takes post.

Short Takes – 4-17-24

‘It’s an efficient machine to destroy nuclear waste’: nuclear future powered by thorium beckons. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “The company’s concept combines a particle accelerator called a cyclotron with a subcritical lead-cooled reactor. ‘It’s built with about 3% missing neutrons which is a very important safety feature for us – if you pull the plug on the accelerator the reactor stops in milliseconds,’ explains de Mestral. ‘This sub-criticality is also crucial in order to have an efficient machine able to transmute nuclear waste.’”

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Fuel System Integrity of Hydrogen Vehicles; Compressed Hydrogen Storage System Integrity; Incorporation by Reference. Federal Register NHTSA notice of proposed rulemaking. Summary: “This notice proposes to establish two new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) specifying performance requirements for all motor vehicles that use hydrogen as a fuel source. The proposed standards are based on Global Technical Regulation (GTR) No. 13. FMVSS No. 307, “Fuel system integrity of hydrogen vehicles,” which would specify requirements for the integrity of the fuel system in hydrogen vehicles during normal vehicle operations and after crashes. FMVSS No. 308, “Compressed hydrogen storage system integrity,” would specify requirements for the compressed hydrogen storage system to ensure the safe storage of hydrogen onboard vehicles. The two proposed standards would reduce deaths and injuries that could occur as a result of fires due to hydrogen fuel leakages and/or explosion of the hydrogen storage system.” Comment due date: June 17^th, 2024.

America’s ‘God of War’ is now many decades old. The US Army can’t replace it. Telegraph.co.uk article. Another side of the artillery story that has been raised because of the war in Ukraine. Pull quote: “So it’s extremely problematic that the world’s leading army, the US Army, can’t manage to develop a new howitzer. Trying and failing three times in a generation to acquire new heavy artillery, the Army is stuck with upgraded versions of the same howitzers it’s been using for 61 years.”

Hackers Linked to Russia’s Military Claim Credit for Sabotaging US Water Utilities. Wired.com article. Pull quote: ““Someone under this persona is doing some really aggressive stuff, and they’re doing it globally, and they could ultimately cause a very real incident,” Hultquist says. “If this is just some random group of hacktivists who lack the structure and restraint of a military organization, they may cross lines in ways that no one anticipates.””

Russia-linked hacking group suspected of carrying out cyberattack on Texas water facility, cybersecurity firm says. CNN.com article. Pull quote: “In Muleshoe, a town of about 5,000 people, the hackers broke into a remote login system for industrial software that allows operators to interact with a water tank, city manager Ramon Sanchez told CNN. The water tank overflowed for about 30 to 45 minutes before Muleshoe officials took the hacked industrial machine offline and switched to manual operations, Sanchez said in an email. Muleshoe officials replaced the hacked software system and took other steps to secure the network, Sanchez said.”

Atlas shrugged: Boston Dynamics retires its hydraulic humanoid robot. TechCrunch.com article. Pull quote: “Atlas has taken many strides in the intervening decade, of course, as the bipedal robot continues to factor into Boston Dynamics’ research and promotional material. Today, however, marks the end of the road for the robot. While many of the system’s advances in locomotion still impress, certain aspects, like its hydraulics, are antiquated by contemporary robotics standards.”