In reversal, Trump administration will defend Biden's asbestos ban

The Trump administration says it will uphold a Biden-era ban on the ongoing use of asbestos after previously saying it would reconsider the rule.

In a court filing last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had said that it planned to pursue a rulemaking process that could make changes to the ban.

However, in a Monday court filing, it withdrew that previous motion, saying it “no longer intends to conduct … rulemaking to evaluate potential changes at this time.”

In an additional court filing, Lynn Dekleva, an official in the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said that the administration could try to instead use a guidance to alter how the rule is implemented.

“EPA plans to explore whether guidance could provide further clarity to stakeholders as they implement the Rule, particularly with respect to any workplace protection measures,” Dekleva’s declaration states.

But the declaration means that the Trump administration will defend the asbestos ban in court after challenges from the chemical industry and others.

The Biden-era rule requires companies to phase out their uses of a type of asbestos known as chrysotile asbestos, which is the only known type used in the U.S.

The rule gave companies making automotive breaks six months to stop making products with asbestos, while other industries got more time. Most sheet gaskets, a type of seal, that contain asbestos will be banned after two years, while the chlor-alkali sector, which makes chemicals like chlorine for treating water, will have up to 12 years to make the change.

Exposure to asbestos causes lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer that occurs in the lining of the lung, chest and the abdomen and heart. Asbestos-related diseases are estimated to kill thousands of Americans each year. 

Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees, called the administration’s latest court filing a “step in the right direction” in a written statement, saying it came in the wake of “fierce public pressure and legal accountability.

“This is just the beginning of the public backlash against the Trump administration's plans to roll back 31 standards that protect the air we breathe and the water we drink,” Roos said.

A number of Trump administration officials have ties to the chemical industry, including the agency’s deputy administrator, who represented a group of car companies that argued against the asbestos ban in a legal filing last year.