EPA’s 2026 Regulatory Agenda: Key Actions in the Pipeline

This blog was originally posted on 7th August, 2026. Further regulatory developments may have occurred after publication. To keep up-to-date with the latest compliance news, sign up to our newsletter.

AUTHORED BY LUISA TORO CORREA, REGULATORY COMPLIANCE SPECIALIST, ADHERENT

---

EPA’s 2026 Unified Agenda provides an early look at the regulatory actions the Agency expects to advance over the coming months. Its active agenda contains 116 entries covering a wide range of programs, from chemical regulation and hazardous waste to air emissions, water quality, transportation, and administrative procedures.

For manufacturers, importers, and facility operators, many of the most relevant actions involve chemicals already subject to close regulatory scrutiny. EPA is continuing to develop new risk management rules while also reconsidering several major requirements adopted in recent years.

It is important to remember that the Unified Agenda is a planning document. The dates listed are anticipated timelines and may change. An entry at the “final rule stage” means that a final rule or other final action is expected to be the next step; it does not mean that a final rule has already been issued. The agenda itself does not create a legal obligation for an agency to follow the listed schedule.

Key Insight

EPA’s 2026 Unified Agenda signals continued regulatory activity involving chemicals, PFAS, workplace protections, waste management, air emissions, and water quality. Although the agenda does not create legal obligations, businesses can use it to identify substances, operations, and compliance projects that may be affected by upcoming EPA actions.

Table of Contents

• TSCA Rules Remain at the Center of EPA’s Plans
• PFAS Continues to Connect Multiple EPA Programs
• Workplace and Facility Programs May Also Change
• Waste Management Is Another Area to Watch
• The Wider EPA Agenda
• What the Agenda Signals
• Frequently Asked Questions

TSCA Rules Remain at the Center of EPA’s Plans

Proposed Risk Management Rules

EPA’s agenda includes proposed risk management rules for formaldehyde, cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster (HBCD), tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), and legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos. The agenda also lists 1-bromopropane, N-methylpyrrolidone, and C.I. Pigment Violet 29 at the final rule stage.

Depending on the chemical and its conditions of use, the agenda entries describe potential restrictions affecting manufacture, processing, distribution, industrial and commercial uses, consumer access, and workplace protections.

N-Methylpyrrolidone

N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) illustrates this broader reach. NMP is used in applications including electronics and semiconductor production, polymers, petrochemical products, paints, coatings, and coating removers. EPA’s proposal included restrictions on certain uses, workplace chemical protection requirements, a concentration limit for a consumer product, and labeling, recordkeeping, and downstream-notification obligations.

Amendments to Existing TSCA Rules

The agenda also includes separate proposed amendments to the existing TSCA rules for perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and carbon tetrachloride. EPA is reconsidering aspects of the 2024 rules, including workplace exposure controls, prohibited uses, exemptions, personal protective equipment, and compliance timeframes.

PFAS Continues to Connect Multiple EPA Programs

PFAS appears throughout EPA’s agenda, affecting several different regulatory programs.

TSCA Reporting and Recordkeeping

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the agenda lists EPA’s proposed revisions to the PFAS reporting and recordkeeping rule at the final-rule stage. The current rule requires manufacturers, including importers, that manufactured PFAS in any year from 2011 through 2022 to report specified information to the EPA.

The proposed revisions would introduce exemptions for imported articles; PFAS manufactured, including imported, in mixtures or articles below a 0.1% de minimis concentration; certain byproducts; impurities; research and development activities; and non-isolated intermediates. These exemptions remain proposed and should not be treated as final until EPA completes the rulemaking.

Wastewater and Drinking-Water Actions

PFAS also appears in EPA’s water agenda. Planned actions include effluent limitations addressing discharges from PFAS manufacturing facilities, revisions concerning PFAS discharges in wastewater from chromium electroplating facilities, and monitoring and reporting requirements in certain NPDES permit applications.

The agenda includes two proposed actions concerning federal PFAS drinking-water requirements. One would provide additional time for public water systems to comply with the PFOA and PFOS maximum contaminant levels. The other would rescind the regulatory determinations and related provisions for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, commonly known as GenX, and the mixture of these three PFAS plus PFBS.

RCRA Hazardous Constituents

Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA is developing a final rule that would add nine specified PFAS, together with their salts and structural isomers, to the list of hazardous constituents in 40 CFR Part 261, Appendix VIII.

If finalized, these PFAS would be expressly identified for consideration during facility assessments and, where necessary, further investigation and cleanup when corrective-action requirements are imposed at RCRA treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.

Workplace and Facility Programs May Also Change

TSCA Workplace Requirements

EPA’s agenda includes planned amendments to the TSCA risk management rules for perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and carbon tetrachloride. These actions may revise workplace exposure controls, personal protective equipment requirements, exemptions, prohibited uses, and compliance timelines.

Risk Management Program Regulations

The agenda also includes amendments to EPA’s Risk Management Program regulations for facilities handling regulated toxic or flammable substances. EPA states that the changes are intended to avoid duplicative requirements, revise parts of the 2024 chemical accident-prevention rule, and realign certain RMP requirements with OSHA’s Process Safety Management requirements.

The agenda places this action at the proposed-rule stage and projects a final rule for September 2026. As with all Unified Agenda dates, this is an anticipated target rather than a guaranteed publication date.

Waste Management Is Another Area to Watch

Solar Panels and Lithium Batteries

EPA plans to propose amendments to the universal waste regulations in 40 CFR Part 273 to add hazardous waste solar panels and establish separate standards specifically tailored to waste lithium batteries.

According to the agenda, the solar-panel provisions are intended to ease regulatory burdens, promote collection and recycling, and encourage programs that reduce the quantity of this waste entering municipal solid-waste management. The lithium battery provisions are intended to improve safety, reduce fires involving end-of-life batteries, and continue promoting recycling. This action is listed under RIN 2050-AH32.

Additional Waste and RCRA Actions

The agenda also includes separate actions concerning updates to RCRA hazardous-waste and permitting regulations, the transition from paper to electronic hazardous-waste manifests, amendments addressing legacy CCR surface impoundments and CCR management units, and revisions to the standards for the open burning and open detonation of waste explosives. These actions are listed under RINs 2050-AH30, 2050-AH35, 2050-AH39, and 2050-AH24, respectively.

The Wider EPA Agenda

The remainder of EPA’s agenda includes an extensive range of air, water, and administrative actions.

Among them are revisions or reconsiderations involving hazardous-air-pollutant standards, oil and gas emissions, ethylene oxide sterilization facilities, industrial boilers and process heaters, volatile organic liquid storage vessels, vehicle emissions, greenhouse-gas reporting, ozone implementation, and the definition of “waters of the United States.”

What the Agenda Signals

Taken together, the selected entries point to increasing interaction between chemical composition, product use, worker exposure, and environmental releases.

Businesses can use the agenda to identify substances and operations that may require closer attention, review supplier and formulation information, evaluate workplace exposure scenarios, and determine whether current compliance projects could be affected by a proposed amendment or reconsideration.

Although the agenda does not establish new obligations on its own, it provides a useful indication of where the EPA intends to focus its regulatory attention. Companies should continue to verify each development in the Federal Register and the final regulatory text.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is EPA’s 2026 Unified Agenda?

EPA’s 2026 Unified Agenda is a planning document that provides an early look at the regulatory actions the Agency expects to advance over the coming months. Its active agenda contains 116 entries covering chemical regulation, hazardous waste, air emissions, water quality, transportation, and administrative procedures.

Does an action at the final rule stage mean that a final rule has already been issued?

No. An entry at the “final rule stage” means that a final rule or other final action is expected to be the next step; it does not mean that a final rule has already been issued.

Which chemicals are included in EPA’s proposed TSCA risk management actions?

The agenda includes proposed risk management rules for formaldehyde, cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster (HBCD), tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), and legacy uses and associated disposals of asbestos. It also lists 1-bromopropane, N-methylpyrrolidone, and C.I. Pigment Violet 29 at the final rule stage.

Are the proposed PFAS reporting exemptions currently final?

No. The exemptions remain proposed and should not be treated as final until EPA completes the rulemaking.

How can businesses use the Unified Agenda?

Businesses can use the agenda to identify substances and operations that may require closer attention, review supplier and formulation information, evaluate workplace exposure scenarios, and determine whether current compliance projects could be affected by a proposed amendment or reconsideration. Companies should continue to verify each development in the Federal Register and the final regulatory text.

See Adherent in Action

Discover how agentic AI is reshaping product compliance for global enterprises.

Book a Demo