The Biden administration on Wednesday confirmed its intent to nominate Radhika Fox to lead the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water and Michael Freedhoff to oversee the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Faisal Amin is the administration's pick to serve as EPA chief financial officer.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hear testimony from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan this month on President Joe Biden's top-line budget for fiscal 2022. "We look forward to discussing EPA's priorities and hearing more about the Biden Administration's plans for solving the environmental and public health challenges before us," said Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., in a joint statement.

Kansas City Southern and Canadian Pacific assert they have the "right" to have their proposed merger reviewed under a 2001 waiver granted to KCS, said the companies in a new filing with the Surface Transportation Board. "STB granted KCS, the smallest of the Class I railways, an exemption from the new merger rules in 2001 because a combination involving KCS did not raise the same concerns that any transaction between the larger six Class I's might create," the railroads said.

The industry and brand owners are working to increase recycling in the US through voluntary commitments and goals like the American Chemistry Council's plan to ensure all plastic packaging is recycled or recovered by 2040, but national strategies can also help promote plastics circularity, said ACC's Craig Cookson during the Plastics Recycling Conference. Legislation like the RECOVER Act and the RECYCLE Act could also help encourage recycling nationwide, said Cookson.

SK Capital Partners is reportedly in talks to buy Clariant's pigments unit. The potential sale would support Clariant's plan to restructure its portfolio with an emphasis on specialty chemicals.