Fifth Circuit Vacates EPA’s Methylene Chloride Rule: A Landmark Decision Reshaping TSCA Section 6

Overview

On September 15, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a significant decision in East Fork Enterprises, Inc. v. EPA, vacating EPA’s 2024 methylene chloride risk management rule and the underlying revised unreasonable-risk determination under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The court granted the industry petitioners’ challenge, denied Sierra Club’s petition, and remanded the matter to EPA.

The opinion reaches well beyond methylene chloride. The Fifth Circuit held that EPA may not make a “whole chemical” unreasonable-risk determination, must account for personal protective equipment (PPE) where the record shows it is actually or reasonably foreseeably used, and cannot treat TSCA as a zero-risk or precautionary statute. The court also found that EPA’s exposure limits lacked substantial evidence and that EPA failed to justify the breadth of its prohibitions, its treatment of economic consequences, and its assessment of feasible