
Eleven Democratic attorneys general from across the country recently announced in a
press release that they have filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
(EPA) for failure to initiate effective asbestos regulation.
In January 2019, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Massachusetts
Attorney General Maura Healey filed a
petition urging the EPA to issue new regulations and provide data on the importation
and use of asbestos in the United States. The EPA responded in April 2019
by denying the petition and announcing a
new rule authorizing the EPA to review and potentially approve the sale of new
and previously prohibited asbestos products in the marketplace.
The rule was approved against the advice of many of the EPAs own scientists
and senior officials. “Asbestos is an extremely dangerous substance
with no safe exposure amount,” Mark Seltzer, an attorney who has
been with the EPA for more than a decade, said in an
internal email within the EPA. “Rather than allow for (even with restrictions) any new uses for
asbestos, the EPA should seek to ban all new uses of asbestos because
the extreme harm from this chemical substance outweighs any benefit —
and because there are adequate alternatives to asbestos,” a staff
member wrote.
California Attorney General Becerra and Massachusetts Attorney General
Healy countered with the most recent lawsuit, joined by attorneys general
from Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon,
Washington and the District of Columbia. The case seeks to compel the
EPA to promulgate rules tightening, not loosening, oversight of asbestos,
and reducing the health risks asbestos poses to the public. A copy of
the complaint can be found
here.
“Asbestos is one of the most harmful and toxic chemicals known to
humankind,”
California AG Becerra said in a press release about the lawsuit. “There’s too much
at stake to let the EPA ignore the danger that deadly asbestos poses to
our communities.”
“Asbestos is a known carcinogen that kills tens of thousands of people
every year, yet the Trump Administration is choosing to ignore the very
serious health risks it poses for our residents.”
Massachusetts AG Healey
said in response.
“The EPA can’t adequately assess the human health risks posed
by asbestos if it doesn’t even know how much of this highly toxic
substance is coming into the country,”
Washington AG Bob Ferguson states on his website. This is the 40th lawsuit Ferguson has filed against the Trump Administration, with 21 legal
victories so far.
“We are asking the EPA to do what it’s supposed to do—protect
Americans from deadly toxins.”
Maryland AG Brian E. Frosh said in a statement. “The failure to regulate asbestos, or to collect
data on its adverse health impacts, lands squarely on the shoulders of
the EPA’s administrator,”
“Asbestos is a dangerous and deadly carcinogen. Without comprehensive
data on where asbestos is processed and used, we simply cannot adequately
protect the public from this toxic threat. We have filed this lawsuit
to force the EPA to fulfill its obligations under federal law.”
Connecticut AG William Tong said in his announcement of joining the suit.
The filing of this case comes as the EPA is defending multiple lawsuits
in response to attempts to rollback and strip countless regulations and
protections put in place during the Obama administration. In June 2019,
a nonprofit sued the EPA for removing qualified scientists from 23 advisory
committees and replacing them with industry representatives.