Bicameral, bipartisan deal reached on TSCA reform.

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Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced that a deal was reached to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), with changes to reconcile the House and Senate legislation “pretty much agreed to,” according to Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Jim Inhofe (R-OK).

House Democrats Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) immediately responded by criticizing the deal as “weaker than current law.” The Representatives blamed House Republicans for “walk[ing] away from a bipartisan deal we agreed to last month.” Earlier this week, 40 House Democrats sent a letter urging Rep. Pallone to support a proposal backed by the Humane Society of the United States to reduce animal testing.

While no details on the content of the deal were released, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) said the legislative language would be released within a few days.

Sen. Inhofe said the negotiated bill could pass both chambers of Congress by the end of next week.

Senators reach deal on TSCA reform.

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Senators central to the effort to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) have reportedly reached a deal that will allow the stalled legislation to move forward. Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Jim Inhofe (R-CA) and Ranking Member Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has been a fierce critic of the Senate proposal, announced on Friday that they had “reached an agreement on key sticking points of the TSCA reform bill.” The content of the agreement has not yet been made public, but according to Politico’s Morning Energy, it involves “some resolution on Senate language calling for state action on high-priority chemicals to be paused while EPA performs a risk review.” A Senate aide told Politico that the final text will take most of this week to finalize.

The next step will be to win House approval before both chambers get the chance to vote on the negotiated legislation. A bi-partisan group of House Energy and Commerce Committee members also released a statement on Friday, calling the deal “an important step forward” and calling for “keeping the momentum going.”

TSCA reform reconciliation might be ready as soon as May 9.

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Despite perennially familiar optimistic comments, Congress is heading into a weeklong recess with no deal on overhauling the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As we have previously discussed, both chambers have approved legislation to update the law, but differences between the two bills have yet to be reconciled. Nevertheless, lawmakers continue to claim that progress is being made. While a push to wrap up negotiations before the recess failed, legislators hope to reach an agreement as soon as the week of May 9, when Congress is back in session.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment and the Economy Subcommittee told Bloomberg BNA that legislators are still trying to reach a “middle ground” on state preemption. This month, environmentalists have raised new concerns with the legislation, with the Waterkeeper Alliance opposing to the so-called “Monsanto provision,” flagged in February by the New York Times, and the Natural Resources Defense Council criticizing the legislation’s high standard for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate chemicals in imports, including articles, through Significant New Use Rules (SNURs). Vermont’s Congressional delegation has also written to reconciliation leaders, arguing for the importance of TSCA reform from the perspective of a state currently grappling with reports of drinking and surface water contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Their letter [PDF] calls for preserving state authorities and supports letters previously submitted by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and state Attorneys General.

Although lawmakers from both parties have insisted that negotiations are not to be held to any timeline, the number of weeks left on the legislative calendar is dwindling rapidly.

EPA grants partial exemption from Chemical Data Reporting rule for six biodiesel chemicals.

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Today, EPA announced that six biodiesel chemicals will be partially exempt from certain reporting requirements of the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule, under section 8(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Final Rule amends the list of chemical substances exempt from submitting processing and use information by adding the six chemicals, all of which are involved in the production of biodiesel. These chemicals will still be subject to other CDR reporting requirements, on facility and manufacturing and import volume information.

The affected chemicals and their Chemical Abstract Services Registry Numbers (CASRNs) are:

  • Fatty acids, C14-18 and C16-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (CASRN 67762-26-9);
  • Fatty acids, C16-18 and C-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (CASRN 67762-38-3);
  • Fatty acids, canola oil, methyl esters (CASRN 129828-16-6);
  • Fatty acids, corn oil, methyl esters (CASRN 515152-40-6);
  • Fatty acids, tallow, methyl esters (CASRN 61788-61-2); and
  • Soybean oil, methyl esters (CASRN 67784-80-9).

This partial exemption was granted as part of the petition process for “Low Current Interest” chemicals developed in 2003. Under this process, EPA considers the “totality of information” available for a particular substance and certain considerations, defined in the regulations, including the availability of other risk screening information and whether potential risks of the substance are adequately managed, in determining the agency’s “current assessment of the need for collecting CDR processing and use information.” The agency stresses that this process is not necessarily based on potential risks, and interest may increase in the future, in which case the agency would reconsider the applicability of the partial exemption.

In this case, EPA determined that it had low current interest in processing and use information for the six substances. The analyses (“Review Reports”) for the individual chemicals are available at docket number EPA-HQ-OPPT-2014-0809.

These chemicals were requested to be added to the partial exemption list in a petition submitted by a biofuels industry group in October 2014. EPA initially granted the petition in a Direct Final Rule published in January 2015, but withdrew the rule in March 2015 after receiving an adverse comment to the Direct Final Rule. The agency proposed to make the same additions to the partial exemption list in a Proposed Rule published July 22, 2015; the Final Rule announced today makes no changes from that Proposed Rule. However, the Final Rule does discuss comments submitted by the petitioner arguing that these biodiesel chemicals should be treated similarly to comparable “petroleum process” chemicals, which the EPA has designated partially exempt because the agency “believes worker exposure is diminished.” The agency made “no determination” on the petitioner’s argument that the biodiesel chemicals should be partially exempt because they share similar manufacturing conditions, properties, and uses as petroleum process chemicals, since the issue is “moot” as the agency is now granting equivalent partial exemption under the “Low Current Interest” process.

The EPA signed the Final Rule on March 22, 2016. The partial exemption goes into effect when the rule is published in the Federal Register, which should be well before the June 1 start of the 2016 CDR reporting cycle.

EPA and others weigh in on TSCA reform, but no reconciliation in sight.

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Although both chambers of Congress approved legislation in 2015 to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), there has been little proof of progress towards reconciling the two bills, while stakeholders, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have been active in providing feedback and recommendations to legislators. However, Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, recently told Bloomberg BNA that an agreement on merging the bills could happen before the next Congressional recess.

Overall, the EPA prefers the Senate version of legislation to update TSCA, according to a letter [PDF] sent earlier this year to Congressional leaders. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy provided the Agency’s most comprehensive comments to date on the TSCA modernization bills passed by both houses of Congress in a letter dated January 20, 2016 but not made public until the beginning of March. The letter stops short of expressly recommending that the Senate bill be adopted as the framework for final legislation, but voices the EPA’s preference for various aspects of the Senate version while also approving certain provisions found in both bills. The EPA’s comments are based on the Administration’s previously discussed principles for TSCA reform, and were submitted to help negotiators reconcile the two bills, emphasizing that “[t]he lack of a workable safety standard, deadlines to review and act on existing chemicals, and a consistent source of funding are all fundamental flaws in TSCA that should be addressed.”

In particular, the EPA expressed support for the following aspects of the Senate bill:

  • Deadlines for chemical assessments and a requirement to repopulate the high-priority list until all chemicals on the TSCA Inventory have been evaluated;
  • Considerations EPA must assess in choosing a risk management measure, including costs and benefits of alternative ways to achieve the safety standard, based on reasonably available information;
  • Prioritizing chemicals for review based on manufacturer requests, subject to a cap on the number of manufacturer-initiated evaluations and funding from requestors;
  • Authorizing fee collection for the cost of reviewing confidential business information (CBI) claims, section 5 notices, prioritization decisions, safety assessments, and rulemakings;
  • Regulatory flexibility under a new section 6(d), providing “catch-all” regulatory authorities;
  • Affirmative safety determinations for new chemicals;
  • Strengthened civil and criminal enforcement authorities; and
  • Clarifying the types of state laws that are intended to be protected from federal preemption.

However, the EPA also wrote that it “strongly prefers the House bill” on the matter of implementation, because the Senate version’s deadlines and procedural requirements “may unnecessarily slow progress on more substantive issues, limit the EPA’s flexibility to allocate resources appropriately, and lead to burdensome litigation.” The letter also identifies some areas where both bills need improvement, or where the Senate version was not singled out as preferable, such as new use notification requirements for chemicals in articles.

The Hill reported that, after receiving the letter and incorporating suggestions from it, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton (R-MI) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) “sent an offer to the Senate …as the first formal step in negotiating toward a bill.” This offer addressed EPA’s main concerns by, for example, capping the number of industry-initiated risk evaluations, increasing funding for the program, and providing for safety determinations for new chemicals. The offer was reportedly made at the end of February but there have not been any public reports on whether the Senate responded or whether any other progress has been made since early March.

Plans to merge the competing bills might have been thrown off track earlier this month following reporting from the New York Times on a provision in the House legislation that “could help shield [Monsanto] from legal liability” related to its manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The article has drawn criticism of the House bill from some NGOs and even Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, even more stakeholders have weighed in with their concerns and priorities. Environmental regulators from eight states, including California and New York, submitted a letter in early February focusing on the bills’ approaches to preemption issues. In late February, the American Alliance for Innovation, an umbrella group of dozens of trade associations, outlined its priorities for consideration in conference discussions.

Although Congress is perhaps closer than ever to passing a TSCA modernization bill, there has been little indication that legislators are making progress in getting legislation to the President’s desk. These most recent stakeholder comments may be just what Congress needs to speed up the process.

Congressional leaders at work on reconciling TSCA reform bills.

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Quickly reconciling the recently passed House and Senate bills overhauling the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is reportedly a top priority for congressional leaders this year. Earlier this month, Bloomberg BNA reported that House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), chairman of the energy committee’s Environment and the Economy Subcommittee, would be meeting privately to set the subcommittee’s agenda, including how to reconcile the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697) and the TSCA Modernization Act (H.R. 2576). Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also told reporters that he was meeting with Rep. Upton to discuss the same topic.

Asked when final legislation might come before Congress, Sen. Inhofe suggested as early as this month or next month. He also noted that priorities for reconciliation include “making sure the EPA does what they’re supposed to be doing in pre-classifying chemicals.” Rep. Upton told Bloomberg BNA that reconciling the two bills is “high on both of our agendas,” and Rep. Shimkus said he was “pretty optimistic.”

It remains unclear, however, if both chambers will hold a formal conference committee or find a compromise in private that would then be approved by the House and Senate.

The bills are supported by a broad range of industry stakeholders, including the 3M, American Apparel & Footwear Association, American Chemistry Council, BASF, Dow Chemical, DuPont, and the National Retail Federation.

However, state and territorial environmental regulators have taken a more critical position. Last week, the Environmental Council of States released an analysis of the two bills highlighting provisions and sections that should be added or retained during reconciliation. Although not an official position of the organization, ECOS said the analysis is meant to be “a guide to selected issues of interest” to state environmental agencies. The analysis focuses mainly on preemption issues, including timing, grandfathering, and waivers, as well as the requirement that EPA share Confidential Business Information (CBI) data with states, and largely favors the Senate bill. However, the analysis also strongly advocates eliminating several provisions from the Senate version, including those authorizing a “regulatory pause” on state action and industry requests for safety determinations.

Yesterday, Chemical Watch reported that the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) sent a letter to key members of Congress expressing its preference for certain features of the House bill. SOCMA, the trade group for specialty chemical manufacturers, cited the House version’s stronger protections for the confidentiality of chemical identity. The trade group argued that the Senate version would have the perverse effect of discouraging submitters of Premanufacture Notices (PMNs) from conducting health and safety studies, which would trigger the disclosure of chemical identity information. SOCMA also wrote in support of the House bill’s provisions on fees, which are linked to recovering costs for the TSCA Section 5 program and do not apply to businesses that are exempt from submitting data, whereas the Senate bill authorizes fees for exemption requests. In addition, the letter urged Congress “to resist calls to adopt an approach that would prevent a [PMN] submitter from commencing manufacture until EPA issued its determination, even if EPA missed its 90/180-day deadline.”

U.S. Senate passes TSCA reform bill.

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Today, the U.S. Senate broke its months-long deadlock on chemical safety reform and approved by voice vote the “Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act” (S. 697). The bill, sponsored by Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Tom Udall (D-NM), overhauls the decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the first time. We previously discussed aspects of S. 697 upon its March introduction and approval, a month later, by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

After two years of negotiations, the legislation earned the support of 60 Senators of both parties as well as industry and many environmental groups. However, the bill was held up in October by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who were seeking to renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund. After that hold was lifted earlier this week, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has long criticized the proposal as too weak, placed another hold on the bill. Sen. Boxer reportedly lifted her hold after being promised that the legislation would be changed in reconciliation to more closely match the bill passed by the House (H.R. 2567) in June, which Sen. Boxer considers more protective.

The main issue legislators will face in reconciliation will likely be whether states will be allowed to impose tighter restrictions than federal standards.

TSCA reform becomes filibuster proof, but floor vote remains elusive.

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Last week, the U.S. Senate came closer to passing bipartisan legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) than ever before – but still failed to bring S. 697 to the floor. The bill, co-authored by Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and David Vitter (R-LA), is still not scheduled for a floor vote, which will have to wait until after Congress returns from its Columbus Day recess.

On Friday, October 2, the “Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act” reached the filibuster-proof level of 60 cosponsors with the added support of Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). The new cosponsors came aboard as part of a deal promising changes to the bill, including increases to the annual funding cap for industry fees from $18 million to $25 million and measures to streamline the state preemption waiver process. At the same time, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), who has been a vocal critic of the bill, reportedly agreed to allow S. 697 to advance. On Thursday, a diverse alliance of advocates – including the American Chemistry Council and Environmental Defense Fund – rallied outside the Capitol to support the legislation.

However, the news and optimism was quickly overshadowed by the announcement on Monday, October 5, from Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) that they would block consideration of the TSCA reform bill unless reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) was added as an amendment.

The LWCF proposal was met with resistance by Senators Udall and James Inhofe (R-OK), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who are trying to keep out amendments that are not “germane.” In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Democratic leaders pushed for separate floor time to address the reauthorization of LWCF, with the hope of clearing the way for TSCA reform.

Instead, the Senate adjourned today for a week-long recess without voting on the matter, meaning the Udall-Vitter bill could not reach the floor until October 19, at the earliest. Senators Udall and McConnell are said to be working on resolving the LWCF roadblock in order to secure the passage of S. 697, which is expected to pass easily once the procedural hurdles of scheduling a floor vote are surpassed.

EPA issues final Significant New Use Rule for HBCD in textiles.

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EPA has released the prepublication version [PDF] of its final Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) for the brominated flame retardants hexabromocyclododecane or 1,2,5,6,9,10-hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD). HBCD is persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic, and poses potential human health concerns, including reproductive and developmental effects. This Final Rule designates the use of HBCD in consumer textiles as a significant new use which must be reported to EPA at least 90 days in advance. Under this SNUR, consumer textiles include “bolts of cloth and draperies, as well as textiles that are part of household furniture and mattresses.” The Rule does not apply to the use of HBCD in motor vehicles or other current uses, such as non-consumer textiles, like firefighters’ suits, and building insulation.

The SNUR partially revokes the usual articles exemption, 40 CFR 721.45(f), meaning that the rule’s notification requirements apply to importers and processors of HBCD as part of a “textile article,” like an upholstered chair. Notably, the SNUR applies to all importers and processors of HBCD as part of a textile article, regardless of whether it is a “consumer textile.” EPA’s rationale is that “if the inapplicability of the exemption was limited to consumer textiles, undifferentiated textiles (e.g., the type of textiles that could be for a consumer use or a non-consumer use), could be imported or processed and distributed in commerce for consumer use without notification to the Agency.”

The SNUR subjects exporters of HBCD in consumer textiles to the export notification requirements of Section 12(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). However, EPA declined to require § 13 import certification for HBCD as part of articles.

EPA has made two changes to this SNUR since it was first proposed in 2012. First, the agency narrowed the inapplicability of the articles exemption to apply only to importers and processors of HBCD as part of a textile article. Thus, importers and processors of HBCD in non-textile articles are not subject to the SNUR. In addition, EPA made minor clarifying changes to its definition of “consumer textile,” which is now defined as follows:

Consumer textile means any cloth, fabric, or other item produced during a milling process for textiles (including spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, or finishing), that is sold or made available either as a product or as part of a product, to a private individual who uses it in or around a permanent or temporary household or residence, during recreation, or for any personal use or enjoyment. Consumer textiles can include, but are not limited to, bolts of cloth and draperies, as well as textiles that are part of upholstered household furniture and mattresses.

EPA also rejected commenters’ requests to establish a “policy framework by rule for the issuance of article SNURs.” The agency responded that a policy framework was not necessary to reach the conclusion that notification should be required for importing or processing HBCD in consumer textiles.

HBCD has recently been subject to significant scrutiny by EPA and others. Last month, EPA issued initial documents for its TSCA Work Plan risk assessment of HBCD in foam and polystyrene products. In 2014, EPA’s Design for Environment (DfE) program released an Alternatives Assessment for HBCD, identifying safer alternatives in foam insulation applications. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been petitioned by a coalition of environmental, health, and consumer advocates to ban certain products containing HBCD and related flame retardants. Outside the U.S., HBCD was added as a prohibited substance to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and is being withdrawn in Europe under REACH.

 

EPA releases initial TSCA Work Plan assessments of four flame retardants.

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Last week, EPA released preliminary assessment documents for four structurally similar flame retardant chemical clusters. These documents represent the first step in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan Chemical assessment process for these substances, which were all on the Work Plan list. The TSCA Work Plan is the agency’s program to evaluate potential risks of existing chemicals, first introduced in 2012 and updated in 2014. The notice of the availability of these assessments will be published in the Federal Register on August 18.

EPA released Problem Formulations and Initial Assessments for three flame retardant chemical clusters:

  • Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), also known as Brominated Bisphenol A – used in plastics and printed circuit boards;
  • Chlorinated phosphate esters – used in furniture foams and textiles; and
  • Cyclic aliphatic bromides/hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) – used in expanded polystyrene foams and polystyrene foam products.

The Problem Formulations and Initial Assessments discuss likely exposure and hazard scenarios to workers and consumers, based on current production, use, and exposure information. These assessments aim to identify scenarios where further risk analysis may be necessary. In the case of these three flame retardants, EPA will conduct assessments of risk to human health (workers and consumers) and the environment. EPA will accept public comment on these Problem Formulations and Initial Assessments for 60 days.

In addition, EPA released a Data Needs Assessment for the Brominated Phthalates (TBB and TBPH) cluster of flame retardants used in polyurethane foam products. After reviewing previous assessments of this cluster, EPA identified critical gaps in existing data on toxicity, exposure, and commercial mixtures. The Data Needs Assessment for brominated phthalates is meant to guide the collection of additional data and information and provide stakeholders and the public with the opportunity to submit data or information that may fill the identified gaps. As information is identified or submitted, the agency will “continue to evaluate the adequacy of the database to conduct a risk assessment that can inform decision making.” Public comment on the Data Needs Assessment will be accepted for 120 days.