An updated version of the Integrated Chemical Environment was released last month by the NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM). The Integrated Chemical Environment comprises data sets curated from NICEATM and its partners as well as computational tools intended to help assess chemical safety and contextualize data. It also provides chemical safety data and property predictions.According to NICEATM, the latest version of the Integrated Chemical Environment features harmonized skin sensitization and eye irritation data and updated principal component analysis plots in its Chemical Characterization tool, which can be used to explore and compare properties and chemical use categories for one or two chemical lists. The updated Integrated Chemical Environment also provides expanded options for users to provide input data for two other tools: the In Vitro to In Vivo Extrapolation tool, which “uses pharmacokinetic models to predict the equivalent administered dose … from the activity concentration of selected assays,” and the Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetics tool, which allows users to “generate predictions of tissue-specific chemical concentration profiles following a dosing event.” Users will also find an updated Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21) “Chemical Quick List,” which can be used to quickly populate a query. This list includes more than 9,000 chemicals tested in the Tox21 program.
Users can access the Integrated Chemical Environment via the website of the National Toxicology Program and read release notes summarizing the recent changes.
By a vote of 26-3, the Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended $363.8 million in funding for NIOSH in fiscal year 2026, an increase of $1 million over funding the agency received in fiscal year 2025. The committee’s recommendation rejects President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal, which would cut NIOSH funding by 80 percent to $73 million.The committee also recommended $632.3 million for OSHA and $387.8 million for MSHA. Both amounts are equal to funding the agencies received in FY 2025. The recommendation for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is roughly $14.5 million, which is $1 million less than OSHRC received for FY 2025.
The funding is part of the Senate’s appropriations bill for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
The president’s budget requests for the Department of Labor included $582 million for OSHA and $348 million for MSHA, which represent decreases of 7.9 and 10.2 percent, respectively, from FY 2025 funding.
The committee’s recommendations are just one step in the budgeting process. The House Appropriations Committee will make its own recommendations after the chamber returns from recess at the end of August. The various budget bills must still be debated in each chamber and any differences reconciled.
The United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) and General Electric Company (GE) have agreed to a Consent Decree with the United States, Navajo Nation and the State of New Mexico under the federal Superfund law. This agreement requires a combined cleanup action to remove approximately one million cubic yards of uranium mine waste from the Northeast Church Rock Superfund Site, located on the Navajo Nation, and transfer it to the UNC Mill Site, located adjacent to Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico.“This agreement represents extensive cooperation between EPA, the Navajo Nation, and the state of New Mexico. Each partner plays a critical role in working toward a safer environment for communities of Western New Mexico,” said EPA South Central Regional Administrator Scott Mason. “With this historic settlement, we are ensuring cleanup progress will continue at the NECR mine site while improving existing protections at the UNC mill site.”
Under the lodged Consent Decree, UNC and GE will perform and pay for cleanup actions that include the excavation of approximately one million cubic yards of contaminated wastes at the NECR Mine Site and transfer of the wastes to an engineered repository at the UNC Mill Site, a federally licensed uranium mill and tailings disposal facility. The Navajo Nation and the State of New Mexico are also parties to the agreement as co-plaintiffs with the United States.
The cleanup is expected to cost nearly $63 million and take more than a decade to complete. The U.S. Department of Energy will perform long-term stewardship and maintenance of the UNC Mill Site under their Legacy Management Program.
This agreement is the culmination of two decades of coordination between EPA‘s Pacific Southwest and South Central Regional offices, Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Interior, State and Tribal stakeholders, and UNC and GE.
“This settlement sends a message that federal, sovereign, and state governments can come together to improve the lives of both New Mexican and Navajo Nation residents,” said Secretary for the New Mexico Environment Department James Kenney. “It’s the result of our regulatory partners' unwavering commitment to addressing the longstanding risks faced by communities impacted by uranium mining waste.”
The Northeast Church Rock Mine operated from 1967 to 1982 and served as the principal source of uranium ore for the UNC Mill. These mining operations left behind uranium mine waste piles, several former ponds and former mill tailings storage areas. Although EPA has required several shorter-term cleanup actions to be completed at the NECR Mine site, conditions at the site continue to present a risk of releases of hazardous substances to the air, surrounding soils, sediments, surface water and groundwater.
The UNC Mill Site is a former uranium mill which operated from 1977 to 1982, generating mill tailings containing radionuclides and other hazardous substances. Disposal of about 3.5 million tons of tailings took place in on-site impoundments. Studies performed under EPA oversight have demonstrated that the transfer of Northeast Church Rock mine waste to the UNC Mill site, and placement of the waste over the tailings disposal area, would improve the cover and enhance erosion controls at the Mill site.
EPA continues to work closely with federal partner agencies, Navajo Nation, and adjacent states to address impacts from uranium contamination at 523 abandoned uranium mines on or near Navajo land. This EPA work includes the assessment and cleanup of abandoned uranium mines, engagement of Navajo elected officials in government-to-government consultation on EPA decisions, and efforts to involve the affected communities throughout the cleanup process to receive input.
EPA is reconsidering its final risk management rule for the solvent perchloroethylene, which requires most uses of PCE to be phased out in less than three years but allows a 10-year phaseout for its uses in dry cleaning to allow small businesses time to transition away from the chemical. PCE is often used as an alternative for trichloroethylene, or TCE.Several legal challenges were filed following the PCE rule’s publication in December 2024. The petitions for review were consolidated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which granted an abeyance, or temporary suspension of activity, through Aug. 21, 2025. According to EPA, the agency then “determined that the rule should be reconsidered through further rulemaking.” A 30-day public comment period that is open until Aug. 29 marks the first step in the agency’s reconsideration of the PCE rule.
While EPA is accepting comments on all aspects of the rule, the agency is particularly focused on the existing chemical exposure limit (ECEL) for inhalation exposures to PCE, which the rule sets at 0.14 ppm as an eight-hour time weighted average. A notice in the Federal Register highlights the potential for “different exposure limits,” including limits presented in a 2021 agency memo on the occupational use of PCE. The memo describes an acute non-cancer exposure limit of 0.50 ppm and a lifetime cancer exposure limit of 0.47 ppm, both as eight-hour TWAs. According to the memo, the current ECEL for PCE is a chronic non-cancer ECEL that the agency expects will also protect workers “against neurotoxicity resulting from acute occupational exposure.”
EPA also seeks feedback on uses of PCE the agency could consider subjecting to a workplace chemical protection program rather than a ban and the use of PCE in industrial dry-cleaning processes, particularly regarding controls for reducing exposure to PCE and how alternatives to the chemical perform in these settings.
The agency’s news release announcing the public comment period states that the review of the PCE rule “is being done in accordance with applicable law, executive orders, and administration policies.”
The U.S. Department of Labor cited a commercial laundry company for alleged workplace safety hazards after an employee injury at its Kearny facility.OSHA opened an investigation of KNY 26671 LLC, operating as Cooperative Laundry, following a referral from the Kearny Police Department. OSHA inspectors determined that on Jan. 18, 2025, a worker suffered serious injuries while performing maintenance on an industrial dryer.
The agency cited Cooperative Laundry for three willful and nine serious violations for failing to evaluate permit required confined spaces, notify employees of the confined spaces, develop a permit confined space program, and utilize lockout/tagout procedures to prevent accidental machine startup.
The employer was also cited for neglecting to provide training to authorized employees, exposing workers to unguarded vertical and inclined belts, and failing to conduct periodic inspections. OSHA has proposed $252,994 in penalties.
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