EPA announced the availability of and seeks comment on the draft scope of the Risk Evaluation for Asbestos Part 2: Supplemental Evaluation Including Legacy Uses and Associated Disposals of Asbestos.

United States v. Taylor Energy Co. LLC, No. 20-2910 (E.D. La. Dec. 20, 2021). A settling OPA and CWA defendant that discharged oil from a former oil production facility on the outer continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico must transfer to DOI over $432 million currently held in a trust for plugging seafloor oil wells and decommissioning the facility and pay $15 million in civil penalties, $16.5 million to natural resource damages, and over $12 million to the U.S. Coast Guard removal costs.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration amended the pipeline safety regulations to explicitly state that certain coastal waters, the Great Lakes, and coastal beaches are classified as unusually sensitive areas for the purpose of compliance with hazardous liquid integrity management regulations under the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act.

United States v. Kirby Inland Marine, LP, No. 3:21-cv-00335 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 30, 2021). A settling OPA defendant that discharged oil from a barge during a collision in the Houston Ship Channel in Texas City, Texas, must pay a civil penalty of $15,334,768.83. 

United States v. Bridger Pipeline LLC, No. 1:21-cv-00122-SPW-KLD (D. Mont. Nov. 17, 2021). A settling OPA defendant that discharged oil from Bridger's Poplar Pipeline into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana, in January 2015 must pay a civil penalty of $2,000,000.

EPA added natural gas processing facilities to the scope of the industrial sectors covered by the reporting requirements for the Toxics Release Inventory and the Pollution Prevention Act. 

EPA denied a TSCA §21 petition to determine that the chemical mixtures within cosmetics present an unreasonable risk of injury to health and the environment and to issue a rule to eliminate the hazardous chemicals used in such mixtures. 

EPA revised regulations associated with persons who must report data to the Agency's mercury inventory established under TSCA, implementing an order issued by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on June 5, 2020.

EPA seeks comment on the withdrawal of two frequently asked questions concerning property management companies and their compliance responsibilities for the lead renovation, repair, and painting rule under TSCA.

EPA proposed to amend regulations to extend the compliance date for the processing and distribution in commerce of certain articles containing phenol, isopropylated phosphate (PIP), and announced its intention to commence new rulemaking efforts on PIP and four other persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals under TSCA.