The Vinyl Institute is launching a new alliance to step up the industry's response to regulatory issues like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's risk evaluation of vinyl chloride monomer.
While VI is mostly made up of plastic resin makers and larger petrochemical firms, leaders of the new Chlor-Vinyl Alliance say they want to elevate voices from processors and product manufacturers as EPA starts to dig into its new scientific evaluation of VCM.
The alliance has tapped David Fischer, a Washington lawyer and former high-ranking EPA official in President-elect Donald Trump's first administration, to chair the effort.
While VI announced the alliance in a Jan. 8 statement, officials with the Washington-based VI declined in a Jan. 13 interview to identify specific companies and trade associations in the new group, saying that they're still working out organizational details.
About 30 companies and associations have participated in calls so far, VI said.
While VI officials said the alliance's focus could be broader than just the vinyl chloride review, that multi-year risk evaluation is one of the biggest regulatory challenges facing the industry.
The announcement of the alliance comes a month after the outgoing Joe Biden administration EPA formally said it was moving ahead with that risk evaluation of VCM.
The process could result in regulators recommending significant changes in the "conditions of use" for vinyl chloride and potentially PVC products.
VI President and CEO Ned Monroe said the alliance wants to better tap industry sectors outside resin makers, such as PVC processors and companies using vinyl in end products.