After East Fork: How the Methylene Chloride Vacatur Could Reshape TSCA Risk Evaluations and Risk Management Rules

David B. Fischer, M.P.H., Partner | Keller and Heckman LLP

David B. Fischer represents domestic and international industrial and specialty chemical manufacturers, and the trade associations that represent them, in chemical and pesticide risk evaluations, risk management rulemakings, and new chemical approvals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Before joining Keller and Heckman, he was Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), where his TSCA work centered on the risk evaluation of existing chemicals. A registered lobbyist based in Washington, DC, he advocates for clients before EPA and Congress.

• Education & Credentials

David received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Maryland, his M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina, and his B.A. from Northwestern University. He is admitted in the District of Columbia and Maryland, and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

• Recognition & Leadership

As OCSPP’s Deputy Assistant Administrator, David worked with the Assistant Administrator on the technical and administrative operations of an office of more than 1,000 staff and gave policy advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator. In private practice, he has formed and led several industry coalitions focused on improving TSCA implementation. In 2001, the American Chemistry Council gave him its Council Heroes Award for exceptional advocacy, and the Chlorine Chemistry Council recognized him for Outstanding Legal Contributions. He was a Charles Taylor Fellow in Environmental Law at the University of Maryland School of Law.

• Professional Involvement

David has given House and Senate committees input on ongoing TSCA implementation issues and, as a lobbyist, has coordinated outreach with key congressional committees, prepared legislative proposals, and testified at a Senate subcommittee hearing. His recent publications include “A Fifth Circuit Reset for TSCA?” (October 8, 2026), and he was quoted in Inside TSCA (September 25, 2026) and Chemical Watch (September 24, 2026) articles concerning the Fifth Circuit. He speaks frequently at conferences, has written numerous papers on environmental matters, and is a member of the International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology.

• Experience

David has developed comments on multiple TSCA risk management rules for existing chemicals, advised clients on TSCA 6(g) exemption requests, and facilitated EPA new chemical reviews of numerous pre-manufacture notice (PMN) and low volume exemption (LVE) submissions. At the American Chemistry Council, he co-managed the Chemical Products and Technology Division (CPTD), where he led implementation of the 2016 amendments to TSCA. At EPA, he was also involved in all aspects of FIFRA implementation and in matters under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Food Quality Protection Act.

His broader practice includes developing comments on EPA’s proposed TSCA PFAS reporting rule for a coalition of chemical companies, advising a surface finishing trade association on PFAS, counseling a consumer product manufacturer on a potential EPA enforcement issue, and leading efforts to obtain an antimicrobial pesticide registration under FIFRA. He also works with the Department of Energy and the Office of the United States Trade Representative on energy and trade policy matters. As lead in-house counsel, he litigated the best available science provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which produced a unanimous D.C. Circuit decision in Chlorine Chemistry Council v. EPA, 206 F.3d 1286 (D.C. Cir. 2000).

Judah Prero, Counsel | ArentFox Schiff

Judah Prero counsels an aerospace and defense manufacturer on its strategic engagement with EPA during TSCA risk evaluation and risk management proceedings, part of a practice centered on EPA programs under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and on state chemical and product regulation. A Counsel in ArentFox Schiff’s Environmental Practice Group in Washington, DC, he advises manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and trade associations on compliance strategy and advocacy before federal and state regulators. Before joining the firm, he was the American Chemistry Council’s lead attorney for industry during the drafting and negotiation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which modernized TSCA for the first time in nearly four decades.

• Education & Credentials

Judah received his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his B.A. from Marquette University. He is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, New York, and Maryland, and he holds rabbinic ordination from Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem.

• Recognition & Leadership

Judah is Vice Chair of the Pesticides and Chemicals Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. He also serves on the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Continuing Legal Education and as Secretary and an Executive Committee Member of Bikur Cholim of Baltimore.

• Professional Involvement

Judah’s recent insights include “Fifth Circuit Decision on Methylene Chloride Reshapes EPA’s Approach to Chemical Regulation Under TSCA” (September 17, 2026), along with pieces on California’s new PFAS pesticide law (October 8, 2026) and a court decision blocking New Mexico’s PFAS labeling rule (September 25, 2026). Chemical Watch News & Insight quoted him on Minnesota’s PFAS reporting requirements and extension requests (August 4, 2026), and he was a panelist on Proposition 65’s costs, benefits, and public health outcomes at the Prop 65 Annual Conference (August 31, 2026).

• Experience

As Assistant General Counsel at the American Chemistry Council, Judah represented industry in the drafting and negotiation of the Lautenberg Act. In private practice, he has advised a chemical manufacturer on new chemical review requirements, including premanufacture notices (PMNs) and significant new use notices (SNUNs). His work also covers state PFAS restrictions on food contact materials and consumer products, refrigerant approvals under EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program and New York State hydrofluorocarbon regulations, EPA mercury reporting, and state flame retardant restrictions and chemical reporting for children’s products, as well as extended producer responsibility, recycling, and environmental marketing claims.

Earlier in his career, Judah was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland, advising state environmental officials on regulatory, enforcement, and compliance matters. He also spent nearly a decade as Assistant Counsel with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, handling air permitting, stormwater management, environmental review, water quality programs, and advocacy before the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

SESSION 1 – TSCA Section 6 Risk Evaluations and How EPA Has Been Determining Unreasonable Risk | David B. Fischer | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This hour is for lawyers whose clients ask how East Fork affects other TSCA risk management rules and who first need to understand how those rules came to be. It walks through the section 6 sequence: prioritization, risk evaluation, the unreasonable risk determination, and the section 6(a) rule that must follow. It then examines how EPA has been determining unreasonable risk, the most important standard in TSCA, including the 2024 risk evaluation procedures rule and EPA’s later efforts to revise it. Attendees leave with a framework for reading any risk evaluation and identifying the determinations on which a risk management rule depends.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – East Fork Enterprises v. EPA and the Future of TSCA Risk Evaluations and Risk Management Rules | Judah Prero | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

Employers now ask whether East Fork puts other TSCA risk management rules at risk and what EPA’s next rules will look like. This hour reads the Fifth Circuit’s opinion for what it held and why the court vacated the entire rule rather than remanding it. It then applies that reasoning to the way EPA develops risk evaluations and risk management rules: the record EPA must build, how it determines unreasonable risk, and how it selects regulatory requirements. Attendees leave able to assess how exposed other existing TSCA rules are to similar challenges and to advise clients on what to expect from EPA’s pending and future rulemakings.