Thinking the Unthinkable: Rolling Back US Asbestos Protections
On June 16, 2025, President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed its intention to overturn asbestos prohibitions implemented by the previous administration.1 In the abeyance order submitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by the Agency, the EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) Lynn Ann Dekleva wrote:
“OCSPP has now… determined that the Asbestos Part 1 Rule at issue in these consolidated petitions for review should be reconsidered through further rulemaking. Accordingly, EPA, by and through OCSPP, believes that further abeyance of this action while the Agency engages in this rulemaking proceeding is necessary…
OCSPP will consider all reasonably available information and assess whether, consistent with the best available science and its risk management authority in Section 2605(a), the prohibitions with respect to the Asbestos sheet gasket and Chlor-alkali conditions of use in the Asbestos Part 1 Rule went beyond what is necessary to eliminate the unreasonable risk and whether alternative measuressuch as requiring permanent workplace protection measureswould eliminate the unreasonable risk…”2
According to the EPA’s motion, the process of re-evaluating the prohibitions would take at least 30 months. This delay and the likelihood of further delays will undoubtedly be welcomed by groups which had opposed the 2024 Asbestos Regulations such as the American Chemistry Council – which had formerly employed Lynn Ann Dekleva as a lobbyist and Senior Director – and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, whose former lawyer David Fotouhi is now the EPA’s Deputy Administrator. 3
The bureaucratic language with which this potentially deadly stalemate was achieved did not fool observers and journalists many of whom reacted by using emotive language in articles with incendiary headlines such as:
- No Carcinogen Left Behind! Trump's EPA Wants to Reverse the Ban on Asbestos;4
- Trump considering asbestos ban reversal sparks warning: “Lives at risk;”5
- Make America Sick Again: Trump Reconsiders Asbestos Ban as Health Experts Sound the Alarm;6
- ‘Make asbestos great again?’ Trump slammed for move to end ban on Russia-tied carcinogen;7
- E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos;8
- EPA asbestos ban reversal draws global outrage and exposes US regulatory failure;9
- Chemical Lobby Tightens Its Grip on EPA, Undermining Asbestos Ban and Putting Lives at Risk;10
- Cancer-causing asbestos has been regulated for decades and removed from buildings. Trump could allow one form to return;11
- Trump EPA reconsiders Biden’s asbestos ban;12
- EPA Seeks Changes in Asbestos Rule Affecting Chlorine Makers;13
- The EPA Plans to ‘Reconsider’ Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos.14
Trying to anticipate the path Donald Trump would follow on any given subject is always a fools’ errand but after his re-election veteran ban asbestos campaigners tried to do just that. The pessimists amongst us cited the former real estate developer’s trenchant disdain for asbestos critics. In his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback under the heading: “Asbestos got a bad rap from miners & mob-led movement,” Trump wrote:
“Asbestos is the greatest fireproofing material ever used, and everybody in the construction industry knows it. It is also 100% safe, once applied. But early on, asbestos got a bad rap because of the fact that miners who were digging asbestos for many years would often develop asbestosis, and therefore people thought that asbestos was not safe. I'm not saying it's the greatest material to work with. I'm only saying it's the safest material in terms of fire. A huge and concerted effort was made to have asbestos removed from buildings, causing tremendous dislocation and destruction and creating a new problem: asbestos floating in the air.
I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented. Millions of truckloads of this incredible fireproofing material were taken to special ‘dump sites’ because of this stupid law.”15
 In 2018, Uralasbest, Russia’s second biggest asbestos producer, repaid Trump’s support for asbestos by putting his picture on plastic-wrapped shipments of chrysotile (white) asbestos. The image was accompanied by the words “Approved by Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States.” |
Trying to maintain a modicum of optimism about the incoming administration’s asbestos agenda, in December 2024 a trade union official and former federal government appointee commented:
“…it's not easy to repeal or change a regulation. You have to go through many of the steps that you had to do to issue it in the first place. That takes staff, legal resources and time. As well as public input and White House review. Even for an agency as large as EPA, the regulatory pipeline is only so wide. And many of the regulatory staff (now ‘deregulatory’ staff) will be busy dismantling other, more significant regulations.”16
However, the above remarks may reflect hopes rather than conviction.
 Illustration Courtesy of Scott Brundage. |
Despite the huge number of avoidable asbestos deaths and the massive challenges posed by the ubiquity of asbestos within the country’s infrastructure, the Trump administration remains determined to roll back measures such as the regulations enacted to protect citizens from potentially deadly asbestos exposures. With an asbestophile in the White House and asbestos vested interests firmly entrenched at the highest levels in the EPA, the US asbestos epidemic will continue for decades to come. 17
June 25, 2025
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1 The 2024 asbestos prohibitions were accomplished via a final rule entitled Asbestos Part 1; Chrysotile Asbestos; Regulation of Certain Conditions of Use Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/28/2024-05972/asbestos-part-1-chrysotile-asbestos-regulation-of-certain-conditions-of-use-under-the-toxic
The provisions in the 2024 act related to the use of chrysotile (white) asbestos only; as other types of asbestos, including crocidolite (blue) and amosite (brown) were no longer commercially used in the US, the prohibitions did not include them.
2 Abeyance Order submitted to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. June 16, 2025.
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/24-60193_Documents.pdf
Kazan-Allen, L. US Asbestos Ban in Jeopardy, Again! February 25, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-us-asbestos-ban-in-jeopardy-again.php
3 Former chemical lobbyist now oversees EPA’s new chemical approvals. February 27, 2025.
https://www.ehn.org/former-chemical-lobbyist-now-oversees-epas-new-chemical-approvals
LinkedIn Profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-ann-dekleva-ph-d-06319638/
According to available information, only one chlorine producer OxyChem still imports chrysotile asbestos for use at its five plants. Two other producers are using up their asbestos stockpiles but no longer import it. Asbestos-containing sheet gaskets, a type of industrial equipment seal, are still being used to make titanium dioxide and dispose of nuclear material.
Hernandez, J. The U.S. bans most common form of asbestos, after decades of pushback from industry. March 18, 2024.
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/18/1239299448/the-u-s-bans-most-common-form-of-asbestos-after-decades-of-pushback-from-industr
4 Pierce, C.P. No Carcinogen Left Behind! Trump’s EPA Wants to Reverse the Ban on Asbestos. June 17, 2025.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65092697/asbestos-ban-delay-trump-epa/
5 Laws, J. Trump Considering Asbestos Ban Reversal Sparks Warning: ‘Lives at Risk’. Newsweek. June 20, 2025.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-rolling-back-asbestos-ban-sparks-warning-lives-risk-2088221
6 Make America Sick Again: Trump Reconsiders Asbestos Ban as Health Experts Sound the Alarm. June 18, 2025.
https://democrats.org/news/make-america-sick-again-trump-reconsiders-asbestos-ban-as-health-experts-sound-the-alarm/
7 Badash, D. ‘Make asbestos great again?’ Trump slammed for move to end ban on Russia-tied carcinogen. June 19, 2025.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-asbestos/
8 Tabuchi, H. E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos. June 16, 2025.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/us/epa-trump-asbestos-ban-delay.html
9 EPA asbestos ban reversal draws global outrage and exposes US regulatory failure. June 20, 2025.
https://easternherald.com/2025/06/20/asbestos-ban-reversal-us-epa/
10 Chemical Lobby Tightens Its Grip on EPA, Undermining Asbestos Ban and Putting Lives at Risk. June 17, 2025.
https://www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/chemical-lobby-tightens-its-grip-on-epa-undermining-asbestos-ban-and-putting-lives-at-risk/
11 Musto, J. Cancer-causing asbestos has been regulated for decades and removed from buildings. Trump could allow one form to return. June 18, 2025.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/epa-asbestos-ban-trump-b2771679.html
12 Frazin, R. EPA reconsidering ban on asbestos. June 17, 2025.
https://thehill.com/newsletters/energy-environment/5356005-epa-reconsidering-ban-on-asbestos/
13 Rizzuto, P. EPA Seeks Changes in Asbestos Rule Affecting Chlorine Makers (1). June 17, 2025.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/epa-seeks-changes-in-asbestos-rule-affecting-chlorine-producers
14 The EPA Plans to ‘Reconsider’ Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos. June 18, 2025.
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-epa-reconsider-ban-cancer-causing-asbestos/
15 Trump, D. The Art of the Comeback. Accessed November 18, 2024. Pages 83-84.https://www.ontheissues.org/Archive/Art_of_Comeback_Environment.htm
16 Kazan-Allen, L. Donald Trump and Asbestos – A Global Perspective. December 11, 2024.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/lka-donald-trump-and-asbestos-a-global-perspective.php
17 The EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is a Trump loyalist and a rabid supporter of environmental deregulation. In 2024 David Fotouhi, the EPA’s Deputy Administrator, represented the Alliance for Automotive Innovation in a lawsuit objecting to the asbestos prohibitions adopted by President Biden’s EPA.
Alliance for Automotive Innovation’s Motion for Leave to File Brief as amicus Curaie in Support of Industry Petitioners. March 28, 2024.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25499380-fotouhi-auto-alliance-amicus-brief/
Nancy Beck, the EPA’s Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, was formerly a chemical industry executive with the American Chemistry Council, which had opposed the 2024 asbestos regulations. EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Lynn Ann Dekleva was formerly a lobbyist and Senior Director for the American Chemistry Council.
Purdum, T. Two Former American Chemistry Council Employees Appointed to EPA. January 24, 2025.
https://www.chemicalprocessing.com/environmental-health-safety/news/55263435/two-former-american-chemistry-council-employees-appointed-to-epa
