{"id":4540,"date":"2019-01-17T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T19:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=4540"},"modified":"2019-01-17T14:30:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-17T19:30:30","slug":"methylene-chloride-parents-sue-epa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2019\/01\/17\/methylene-chloride-parents-sue-epa\/","title":{"rendered":"Methylene Chloride: Parents, Groups Sue over EPA&#8217;s &#8220;Breach of Trust&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve talked to far too many spouses, children and parents of workers killed on the job. And one thing they all have in common is that they want do whatever they can to make sure that what happened to their loved one will not happen to anyone else.\u00a0 So you can imagine the anger of the relatives of Kevin Hartley and when <a href=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2019\/01\/08\/methylene-chloride-double-cross\/\">EPA announced<\/a> that it was backing off a total ban of methylene chloride (MC) last month after they had been promised by former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.\u00a0\u00a0Hartley <a href=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2017\/06\/10\/dead-in-bathtub\/\">died in 2017<\/a> while using methylene chloride to strip a bathtub. He was 21 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week,\u00a0Hartley&#8217;s mother Wendy, along with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families and the Vermont Public Interest Research Group\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/saferchemicals.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/saferchemicals.org_vpirg_et_al_v_wheeler_complaint.pdf\">filed a lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0to force EPA to live up to its promise to ban the deadly paint stripper after the EPA sent a final rule for White House review that would ban MC for regular consumers, but set up a separate rulemaking to develop a training and certification program for workers who use the hazardous chemical.<\/p>\n<h2>Methylene Chloride is a Killer<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1304\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1304\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1304 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Kevin-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"methylene chloride\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Kevin-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Kevin.jpg 534w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1304\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kevin Hartley, Courtesy of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MC is so deadly that the Obama administration proposed to ban it. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that\u00a0<a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osha.gov\/Publications\/OSHA3883.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seventeen workers have died<\/a>\u00a0from breathing methylene chloride vapors between 2000 and 2015. But that\u2019s just workers. If you add in people who picked up a can of stripper from the local hardware store, the the\u00a0EPA found 49 people in the United States died of\u00a0exposure to methylene chloride during paint and coating removal between\u00a01976 and 2016. And the\u00a0<a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/09\/21\/17991\/common-solvent-keeps-killing-workers-consumers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>\u00a0estimates that \u201cat least 56 professionals and do-it-yourselfers have died suddenly after inhaling it since 1980.\u201d\u00a0 And the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/powerpost\/paloma\/the-energy-202\/2019\/01\/15\/the-energy-202-this-mother-was-once-optimistic-epa-would-ban-a-chemical-that-killed-her-son-now-she-s-suing\/5c3cbeb71b326b66fc5a1c3c\/?utm_term=.4cb592f21c31\">Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0reports that &#8220;Since the Obama administration\u00a0originally proposed banning consumer and most commercial uses of the chemical, at least three people in addition to Kevin Hartley died of breathing in\u00a0methylene chloride fumes, according to media reports.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite all of that, Trump\u2019s EPA, under former administrator Scott Pruitt, withdrew the ban for further consideration.\u00a0Last year, Wendy Hartley &#8212; along with the family of <a href=\"https:\/\/tcf.org\/content\/commentary\/epa-foot-dragging-methylene-chloride-endangering-workers-consumers\/?agreed=1&amp;agreed=1\">Drew Wynne<\/a>, who died last year stripping old paint of the floor of a warehouse he was renovating for his new business, and <a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.house.gov\/meetings\/IF\/IF18\/20180426\/108218\/HHRG-115-IF18-20180426-SD030.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joshua Atkins<\/a>, a thirty-one-year-old who died in 2018 after using methylene chloride to strip the paint on his bike &#8212; met last year with then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. After the meeting, EPA\u00a0<a title=\"Opens in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/newsreleases\/epa-announces-action-methylene-chloride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> that it would \u201cfinalize the methylene chloride rulemaking\u201d and that it would rely on the risk analyses used to propose the ban during the Obama administration instead of creating new analyses. But in December, EPA backtracked, leaving the relatives of methylene chloride victims, and the groups helping them, feeling betrayed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>In Trump times, what the chemical industry wants, the chemical industry gets.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s very much a breach of trust,\u201d said Liz Hitchcock, director of Safer Chemicals Healthy Families in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/powerpost\/paloma\/the-energy-202\/2019\/01\/15\/the-energy-202-this-mother-was-once-optimistic-epa-would-ban-a-chemical-that-killed-her-son-now-she-s-suing\/5c3cbeb71b326b66fc5a1c3c\/?utm_term=.4cb592f21c31\">Washington Post<\/a>.\u00a0 The families have tried unsuccessfully to meet with EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Trump&#8217;s nominee for permanent EPA Administrator who had his confirmation hearing yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Some Senators are also not happy:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cAfter Scott Pruitt&#8217;s destructive tenure, I urged Andrew Wheeler to right the ship at @EPA,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorCarper\/status\/1084892964403462145\">tweeted<\/a>\u00a0Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.), the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.\u00a0\u201cBut on issue after issue, he has kept the agency hurdling down a dangerous path, putting public health at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Washington Post&#8217;s\u00a0Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/energy-environment\/2019\/01\/08\/epa-moves-ban-toxic-paint-stripper-chemical-some-not-all-uses\/\">reported<\/a>\u00a0last week that MC manufacturers have been lobbying against a ban and that &#8220;part of the delay may come from the fact that the Defense Department has\u00a0lobbied to carve out an exemption for the toxic chemical\u2019s commercial use,&#8221; although it&#8217;s not clear what impact the Defense Department had on the current proposal given that the military,\u00a0a large user of paint strippers, would most likely already have received an exemption of at least 10 years under any such ban.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile activists have been taking the issue into their own hands by pressuring retailers to stop selling the chemical. Retailers such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/05\/29\/climate\/lowes-drops-paint-strippers-blamed-in-dozens-of-deaths.html\">Lowes<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/corporate.homedepot.com\/methylene-chloride\">Home Depot<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.walmart.com\/2018\/08\/20\/walmart-phasing-out-paint-removal-products-with-methylene-chloride-and-nmp\">WalMart<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/media\/2018\/180615\">Sherwin Williams<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/home_hardware\/status\/1060978935830319104\">Home Hardware<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/retailerreportcard.com\/2018\/10\/key-findings-2018\/#finding1\">True Value<\/a>\u00a0have decided to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2018\/11\/12\/657856033\/retailers-plan-to-clear-deadly-paint-removers-from-shelves-as-epa-delays-ban\">stop selling<\/a>\u00a0the product under pressure from consumer and family groups.<\/p>\n<h2>Wise to the Ways of Washington<\/h2>\n<p>Wendy Hartley is unfortunately becoming wise to the ways of Washington. According to the Post,\u00a0&#8220;Hartley foresees a long court fight because of the influence of chemical makers. &#8216;I&#8217;m pretty sure that they&#8217;re going to drag this out,&#8217; she said, &#8216;because that&#8217;s what the chemical industry wants.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And in Trump times, what the chemical industry wants, the chemical industry gets.<\/p>\n<p>Judging from Wheeler&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2019\/01\/16\/confirmation-hearing-trumps-epa-pick-vows-advance-deregulatory-agenda\/?utm_term=.71bb1875225b\">confirmation hearing<\/a> yesterday, things are not likely to get much better<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cThe fox in the hen house analogies are endless here, but so is Wheeler\u2019s ability to roll back vital safeguards to our air, water, and climate and put our environment and health at risk should he remain in the top spot at the EPA,\u201d Matthew Gravatt, associate legislative director for the Sierra Club, wrote ahead of Wednesday\u2019s confirmation hearing. \u201cWheeler isn\u2019t just friendly with corporate polluters; he\u2019s been on their team for years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More about Methylene Chloride <a href=\"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?s=methylene+Chloride\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Families and public interest groups are suing EPA over the agency&#8217;s failure to completely ban Methylene Chloride<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[147,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemical-standards","category-epa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - 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