EPA Ignored Expert Advice When Issuing Asbestos Rule, Report Finds

A new report has found that the EPA ignored advice from more than a dozen senior officials who urged the agency to ban asbestos outright.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization obtained two internal memos, which revealed that the EPA’s scientists and lawyers advised the issuance of a complete ban on asbestos instead of restricting its domestic use.

In the memos dated August 10, 2018, staff members at the EPA said the agency should “seek to ban all new uses of asbestos because the extreme harm from this chemical substance outweighs any benefit.”

The memos also noted that there are adequate alternatives to asbestos.

House Democrats hope to sidestep the EPA’s regulation with a bill that would ban the substance within a year.

In a recent hearing before the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, Democrats grilled the EPA’s chemical staff on why the agency didn’t take more restrictive actions on the harmful substance after passing a law that gave them more authority to regulate chemicals.

The EPA has faced harsh criticism over its latest action on asbestos. The agency claims that the new rule would limit the use of asbestos in the U.S., but critics argue that it may reintroduce some asbestos products onto the market.

More than 60 countries have banned asbestos outright. In the U.S., the substance is still sometimes used in producing chlorine and constructing roads.

The EPA banned asbestos in 1989, but a court overturned that law in 1991. The ruling allowed limited uses of asbestos to continue.

Committee Republicans claim that Democrats are politicizing the issue and trying to sidestep the EPA’s science-based process. Republicans are concerned about “the immediate loss of 36 percent” of the country’s national chlorine production. The move, they argue, would put “hospitals and drinking water supplies” at risk.