For decades, asbestos has been associated with serious diseases including mesothelioma and lung cancer. Despite what many people assume, it hasn’t simply disappeared. Asbestos-containing materials can still be found in older homes, schools, workplaces, and other buildings.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing new regulations to address asbestos installed or used decades ago that remains in place today. Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the EPA's original statutory deadline for proposing its risk-management rule was December 3, 2025, one year after completing its Part 2 asbestos risk evaluation.
That deadline passed without a proposed rule. The EPA now says it needs more information about potential exposures during activities such as renovation, demolition, repair, and disposal and plans to issue the proposed rule by June 3, 2027.
For Texans, the delay doesn't mean that existing asbestos protections have disappeared. But it does mean that new federal requirements addressing risks the EPA has already identified will take longer to develop.
The EPA Is Turning Its Attention to Asbestos in Older Buildings
To understand the latest development, it helps to distinguish the EPA's 2024 chrysotile asbestos rule from the asbestos issues covered by its more recent evaluation.
In 2024, the EPA finalized a rule addressing chrysotile asbestos, the type of asbestos that was still being imported and used in the U.S. That rule prohibits ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, with different phaseout periods depending on the product or industry.
However, that rule didn't address what the EPA calls "legacy uses" of asbestos. These can include asbestos-containing floor and ceiling tiles, pipe wrap, insulation, shingles, and other older construction materials.
In its Part 2 asbestos risk evaluation, finalized in 2024, the EPA looked at those legacy materials as well as several types of asbestos beyond chrysotile and certain asbestos-containing talc. The agency concluded that disturbing and handling asbestos associated with legacy uses contributes significantly to the risk asbestos poses to human health.
The next step is a rule explaining how the agency will respond to those findings, which has now been pushed to 2027.
Why the Next Asbestos Rule Has Been Delayed
According to the EPA, it wants more real-world information before writing the proposed rule. Among other things, the agency has sought information on how renovation, demolition, and repair disturb asbestos-containing materials; how older asbestos-containing products are still encountered; and how air sampling and laboratory testing measure asbestos exposure. The EPA says the information will help it better determine who is exposed, how often exposure occurs, and which protections could be effective.
The delay has drawn criticism from asbestos safety advocates. The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), a nonprofit advocacy group, argues that delaying the rule leaves workers, homeowners, and others without additional federal protections for exposures the EPA has already determined pose an unreasonable risk.
The organization has also taken the issue to court. After the December 2025 deadline passed, ADAO sent the EPA a formal notice of its intent to sue and filed a federal lawsuit in April 2026 seeking to compel the agency to propose the rule.
The EPA takes a different position on the timeline. The agency says the Toxic Substances Control Act lets it adjust the deadline when it needs more information and that collecting more exposure data will produce stronger, more defensible protections.
What Is Legacy Asbestos?
The EPA uses the term "legacy asbestos" to describe asbestos used in products in the past that remains in place even though those products are no longer manufactured or distributed with asbestos.
The EPA says asbestos-containing material that remains intact and undisturbed generally doesn’t pose the same risk as damaged or disturbed material. The concern increases when asbestos fibers are released into the air and can be inhaled. This can happen when someone cuts, sands, drills, scrapes, tears out, demolishes, or otherwise disturbs asbestos-containing material.
In practical terms, an old floor tile sitting undisturbed beneath another flooring material is very different from someone grinding or tearing out that same material during a renovation.
Asbestos Exposure Isn't Limited to Construction Workers
Construction and demolition workers are an obvious concern because their jobs may regularly involve older building materials. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notes that significant occupational asbestos exposures can occur during renovation, repairs, demolition, asbestos removal, and some automotive brake and clutch work.
Occupational exposure isn't the only issue. EPA's Part 2 evaluation also considered risks involving people doing their own home renovations, family members of workers who may bring asbestos fibers home on clothing, first responders entering damaged buildings, and people living near activities that release asbestos fibers.
Texas Already Has Rules for Asbestos Renovation and Demolition
The federal Part 2 rule may still be under development, but federal and Texas law already regulate asbestos. The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) oversees an asbestos program designed to reduce workplace and building exposure. Depending on the property type and project, existing rules may require asbestos surveys, licensed professionals, specific work practices, and advance notification before certain renovation, abatement, or demolition work begins.
Requirements vary by property. For example, Texas DSHS says a single private residence generally isn't subject to federal asbestos demolition notification requirements, while public buildings and other facilities may have different requirements.
For homeowners, the presence of asbestos doesn’t automatically mean it needs to be removed. The EPA generally recommends leaving suspected asbestos-containing material alone if it is in good condition and won't be disturbed. If the material is damaged or a remodeling project will disturb it, the agency recommends having an appropriately trained asbestos professional evaluate it.
You generally can't determine whether a material contains asbestos simply by looking at it. Sampling or removing suspected asbestos without knowing what the material contains can release fibers that might otherwise have remained contained.
Asbestos-Related Diseases Can Take Decades to Develop
When asbestos fibers become airborne and are inhaled, they can become lodged in the lungs and other tissues. The effects of exposure may not appear for many years.
Asbestos exposure has been associated with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, and other diseases. According to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, signs of mesothelioma may not appear until 30 to 40 years after exposure.
That long delay can make it difficult for someone diagnosed today to identify when and where the harmful exposure occurred. It may have happened decades earlier at a jobsite, in the military, during construction work, around industrial products, or through another source.
What Happens Next With the EPA Asbestos Rule
We don't yet know exactly what the proposed Part 2 regulation will require. The EPA has established that disturbing and handling asbestos associated with legacy uses poses an unreasonable risk to human health, but it's still developing its regulatory response. The additional information being collected will help shape the proposed rule expected by June 3, 2027.
Until then, existing federal and Texas asbestos requirements remain in place. But delaying the Part 2 rule doesn't eliminate the potential for exposure while the EPA develops additional protections.
When an exposure results in mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease years later, there may also be questions about who was responsible for the exposure. Depending on the circumstances, an asbestos lawsuit can involve manufacturers of asbestos-containing products, employers, contractors, property owners, or other companies connected to where and how the exposure occurred. The EPA's regulatory process is separate from those individual civil claims.
Because an asbestos-related illness may surface decades after exposure, determining where the exposure occurred and which products, job sites, employers, property owners, or companies may have been involved can require looking far back into a person's work and exposure history.
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness and has questions about your legal options, contact The Cochran Firm Texas or call 1-800-843-3476 to discuss your circumstances and whether an investigation into past asbestos exposure may be appropriate.
