WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration is dropping plans to allow continued use of the last type of asbestos legally allowed in U.S. manufacturing after an outcry from asbestos opponents.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a court filing Monday that it will now defend the , which is used in products like brake blocks and sheet gaskets.
The carcinogenic chemical has been mostly phased out in the U.S., but last year, the agency under former President Joe Biden sought to finish the decadeslong fight with a comprehensive ban. The EPA in 2024 said 鈥渆xposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer, and it is linked to more than each year."
The EPA had said in a filing last month that parts of the ban may have gone 鈥渂eyond what is necessary to eliminate the unreasonable risk鈥� and that other options such as requiring workplace protection measures might eliminate that risk. The agency said it planned a roughly 30-month process to write new rules.
But industry associations have already filed suit against the Biden administration鈥檚 ban. So has the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, which fights asbestos-related diseases and believes the ban isn鈥檛 as airtight as it needs to be. The nonprofit opposed pausing the case so the EPA could revisit the rule, arguing that any new proposal would likely be met by lawsuits, too.
All the work that鈥檚 gone into the current litigation shouldn鈥檛 be wasted, the nonprofit said. And a pause would also mean a delay in the rule鈥檚 implementation.
Lynn Ann Dekleva, the agency鈥檚 deputy assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a Monday filing that the EPA won鈥檛 go through a process to rewrite the rule.
The EPA now says the Biden administration 鈥渇ailed to adequately protect chemical industry workers from health risks posed by chrysotile asbestos.鈥�
鈥淭o remedy the previous Administration鈥檚 approach, we notified the court that we intend to reconsider the applicability of interim workplace protection requirements during the replacement of asbestos gaskets for all workers,鈥� EPA Press Secretary Brigit Hirsch said in a statement.
Linda Reinstein, president and CEO of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, said she was elated the EPA isn鈥檛 going to reconsider the Biden administration鈥檚 ban. She speculated that the EPA didn't like public reaction to its position. But she said the EPA鈥檚 new statement doesn鈥檛 make sense 鈥� the EPA should be talking about a ban, not workplace protections, and it should be protecting all workers, not just those involved with gaskets.
The New York Times was first to report the development.
Chrysotile asbestos is found in products such as brake blocks, asbestos diaphragms and sheet gaskets and was banned under the Toxic Substances Control Act, which was . The Biden administration said it moved forward with a ban after decades of inadequate protections and delays in setting better standards.
The EPA鈥檚 previous move to reconsider the ban had been among dozens of in the first months of the Trump administration.
鈥淭his is just the beginning of the public backlash against the Trump administration鈥檚 plans to roll back 31 standards that protect the air we breathe and the water we drink,鈥� said Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network. "Public health is not up for negotiation.鈥�
The American Chemistry Council trade group declined to comment.
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St. John reported from Detroit.
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Michael Phillis And Alexa St. John, The Associated Press
