DTSC Delays Adoption of its Green Chemistry Regulations for Safer Consumer Product Alternatives
Green Chemistry Regulations:
After nearly two years of multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) failed to timely adopt its Safer Consumer Product Alternatives Regulations (SCPA Regulations), a key component of California’s Green Chemistry Initiative. The regulations would have represented a new paradigm in chemicals and products regulation, providing a strong incentive for manufacturers to market products that are “benign by design” through the use of “safer” chemicals and other techniques. The enabling legislation, AB 1879, required DTSC to complete the rulemaking by January 1, 2011, but that did not happen. The Department’s parent agency, the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA), decided to have DTSC delay adoption in the face of substantial criticism of last-minute changes the Department proposed in November. No deadline for completing the rulemaking has been announced publicly.
After receiving comments on its first regulatory proposal, released in September, DTSC made substantial changes in November and released them for a 15-day comment period extending over the Thanksgiving holiday. The changes largely streamlined and clarified the requirements and removed potential impediments to innovation. However, critics accused DTSC of employing “bait-and-switch” tactics, caving to industry pressure, and violating the California Administrative Procedures Act. In the face of such criticism, Cal-EPA’s Secretary for Environmental Proection, Linda S. Adams, decided — in consultation with key legislators and the Governor’s Office — to violate the statutory deadline. She announced her decision in a December 23, 2010 letter to Assembly Member Mike Feuer, the primary author of AB 1879. The letter states that DTSC will reconvene its Green Ribbon Science Panel — a multidisciplinary advisory body — and revisit the issues raised in the last round of comments.
The two most controversial changes concern (1) a five-year limitation on the categories of products subject to regulation and (2) the removal of a provision that would have affected manufacturers’ ability to redesign products. Readers will recall that both the September and November proposals set out a three-step process – (1) identification of chemicals of concern and the priority products containing them, (2) assessment of alternatives to determine whether a viable, safer alternative is available, and (3) imposition of a regulatory response to protect health and the environment from the alternative selected. In recognition of the challenges of implementing an entirely new regulatory scheme, the Department’s November proposal would have limited (until January 1, 2016) the categories of products from which priority products could be identified. Only children’s products, personal care products, and household cleaning products would be eligible. To avoid stifling innovation, the November proposal also would have removed the so-called “Tier I” notification, a streamlined alternatives assessment for a product voluntarily redesigned or reformulated to reduce or remove chemicals of concern prior to the product being identified as a priority product. Avoidance of “regrettable substitutions” was the goal of the Tier I notification, but the potential cost to innovation convinced DTSC to remove the requirement.
These eleventh-hour developments create considerable uncertainty for the regulated community and others, which have been struggling to understand the full import of the regulations and prepare for their implementation. The impending debate over November’s changes is certain to be contentious. Although the changes seem meritorious, they were proposed in a manner that appears to have eroded trust and damaged the spirit of cooperation. Whether the various stakeholders can reach consensus on the most controversial issues remains to be seen.
