Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
April 15, 2015 02:00 AM

Congress makes another attempt to update chemical regulations

Gayle S. Putrich
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Shimkus

    UPDATED April 17, 2015

    WASHINGTON — A new Congress means taking yet another crack at updating the 1970s law regulating U.S. chemical manufacturing, transportation and use. Bills are already in play in both the House and the Senate and both plastics industry and Congressional observers are optimistic about seeing an agreement to update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act this year.

    The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and the Economy met April 14 to open discussion on the House proposal to revamp TSCA penned by subcommittee chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.).

    “We are six and a half years into a debate on changes to a major federal environmental statute that has not been significantly amended since it was enacted nearly 40 years ago,” Mike Walls, vice president for regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council, said in testimony April 14. “It is well past time that TSCA reform moves forward. The discussion draft is a major milestone toward the objective of TSCA reform this year.”

    The as-yet unnumbered Shimkus bill is considered to be a more limited version of the congressman's Chemicals in Commerce introduced last session — which garnered little support from across the aisle and stalled in committee.

    Of the two bill in the Senate, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S 697), introduced by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) is the one with the most bipartisan support. Introduced March 10, the bill already has 21 co-sponsors — 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats — in the now Republican-controlled Senate.

     While it bears much resemblance to the Shimkus bill, the House and Senate proposals differ in three critical ways: preemption of state laws, priority of assessment and price considerations in regulation.

     Opponents have criticized the Senate's Udall-Vitter bill for preempting the ability of states to issue their own chemical regulations, requirements and bans — a fatal flaw in last year's bill that sparked serious opposition from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who was then chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and able to block the bill from moving in favor of her own version. This year's Udall-Vitter proposal would still preempt states from issuing their own safety laws and do so for any chemical the EPA has even begun to assess, a process that could conceivably take several years.

     The House bill, however, would only preempt states from enacting their own laws after EPA has completed assessment of a chemical and begun the rulemaking process.

     Under the Senate bill, EPA would have to flag a chemical as high priority before assessment could begin but it could also classify a chemical as in need of review but a low priority.

     The House draft would set up a new system for EPA to evaluate risks associated with chemicals already on the market, and set a three-year deadline for the agency to complete risk evaluations. Evaluations initiated by manufacturers would have to be done in 180 days.

     Critics of the House bill argue the new review process could be exploited if businesses force EPA to assess chemicals that aren't much of a safety risk, leaving them without the time or resources to review chemicals that are actually hazardous to workers or consumers. Industry would be required to pay for the assessments they request, however.

     Jim Jones, EPA's top chemical safety regulator, said in the April 14 hearing that he has concerns about the new rules for the agency, including that the deadlines laid out in the bill are “unreasonably short” and that the agency, which has not taken an official position on the legislation, may not have enough resources to meet new requirements.

     Finally, the Senate bill would force EPA to base chemical safety decisions entirely on matters of risk to public health and the environment.

    But critics of the House bill say its wording creates a loophole where the high price of mitigating exposure to some harmful chemicals that cost considerations could leave the public unprotected.

     “Cost considerations should be reserved for the question of how to mitigate the risk, not whether to mitigate it,” Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families testified April 14. “As it stands, we believe the draft would allow a major risk, such as a chemical that causes cancer or birth defects, to remain unmitigated if it was deemed too expensive to do so. That is a very different outcome than mitigating the risk in a cost-effective way.”

    “Cost considerations should be reserved for the question of how to mitigate the risk, not whether to mitigate it,” he said. “As it stands, we believe the draft would allow a major risk, such as a chemical that causes cancer or birth defects, to remain unmitigated if it was deemed too expensive to do so. That is a very different outcome than mitigating the risk in a cost-effective way.”

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Graham Packaging updates ESG efforts
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Biden sets US goal to replace 90% of plastics with biomaterials
    2
    Redline's ‘outrageous cultural behaviors' retain top employees
    3
    Industry sees Biden bioplastics goal as serious signal
    4
    Official says Norfolk Southern fire likely started in rail car containing resin
    5
    Commodity prices rise; engineering resins drop
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified