The federal ban comes more than 30 years after EPA first tried to rid the nation of asbestos, but was blocked by a federal judge.
By Anna Phillips, The Washington PostAn asbestos removal crew sifts through the ash and charred remains of the Goetze home and granite business, which was destroyed in the River Wildfire in August 2021 in Grass Valley, Calif.
“Folks, it’s been a long road. But with today’s ban, EPA is finally slamming the door on a chemical so dangerous that it has been banned in more than 50 countries,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. In 2016, America’s long delay in confronting asbestos prompted bipartisan concern among members of Congress, who voted to overhaul the law, giving the EPA sweeping new authority to protect people from toxins.
Freedhoff said that once the EPA decided some of those concerns were valid, it changed its original enforcement timeline. Instead of having two years to phase out asbestos diaphragms, the eight American chlorine plants that still use this technology will have five years, or in some cases more, to switch to alternatives. Yet imports of new asbestos diaphragms will be prohibited immediately once the rule takes effect, 60 days after it appears in the Federal Register.
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