EPA agrees to collect data on asbestos

The Biden administration, in response to a suit by California, other states and environmental advocates, has agreed to collect and disclose information from companies whose products contain the cancercausing mineral asbestos.

Asbestos is found in items ranging from brake linings to clothing fabrics. Since 2016, federal law has required the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain information from largescale importers and producers of products containing potentially hazardous chemicals, including asbestos. The agency then is supposed to evaluate the risks and adopt rules that, based on its findings, could prohibit U.S. manufacture and distribution of the chemical and products that contain it.

In July 2017, however, the EPA under President Donald Trump told a company that imports asbestosladen products that they were “naturally occurring chemical substances” that did not have to be reported. When environmental and health advocacy groups challenged the action in 2018, the EPA said it had all the information it needed.

The organizations then filed suit in federal court in San Francisco, followed by 10 states, led by California and Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. The settlement announced this week followed a ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen.

“Despite the strong enforcement powers at its disposal and the importance of complete and adequate information, the EPA ... has declined to collect all reasonably available information concerning the risks posed by asbestos conditions of use,” Chen said in a Dec. 22 decision. He said the agency’s decision not to collect further information on asbestos was “not an informed one” and violated its duty under the law.

In the settlement, the EPA under President Biden agreed not to appeal Chen’s ruling and said it would resume collecting information from companies on the amounts and uses of their asbestos products. The EPA said it would propose a rule on the use of asbestos within nine months and adopt a final rule within 18 months.

The settlement did not require the agency to say whether the rule would contain new restrictions. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta said it was still “an important step toward ensuring all Americans live in a community that is healthy and safe.”

“The longtime failure of the EPA to regulate asbestos is an environmental injustice and public health tragedy,” Bonta said in a statement.

He said studies show that asbestos exposure kills 15,000 Americans per year.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an arm of the World Health Organization, classifies asbestos as a cause of mesothelioma and other types of cancer. It is also linked to the noncancerous lung disease called asbestosis.

Federal law classified asbestos as an air pollutant in 1970, allowing regulation of its use, and the EPA has since prohibited its use in a few products, such as corrugated paper and floor mats made of felt. But Congress has rejected legislation that would have banned all asbestoscontaining products.

Chen said in his ruling that one scientist has estimated at least 900,000 mechanics in the U.S. are exposed to asbestos each year as they work on brake linings.

He said U.S. Geological Survey reports in 2015 and 2017 had long lists of products that may contain asbestos fibers, including cement products, wallboard, floor tiles, yarn, thread, some woven or knitted fabric and talc used in some children’s toys. By refusing to require disclosure of asbestos uses, Chen said, the EPA under the Trump administration was relying on whatever information the companies chose to provide.