Tag Archive for: New & Events

Verdant Proudly Sponsors Prop.65 Clearinghouse's Green Chemistry Conference

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Green Chemistry:

Verdant is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the Prop.65 Clearinghouse Green Chemistry Annual Conference.  This year’s conference will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2013, at the The City Club of San Francisco, 155 Sansome Street.

  • Verdant attorney, Philip Moffat, will present on “REACH 2013.”
  • Verdant attorney, Catherine Lin, will present on “Supply Chain Management.”

More information about the conference is available here and an agenda is available here.   A copy of Mr. Moffat’s presentation is available here [PDF].

EPA Proposes Significant New Use Rules for 37 Chemicals and Nanomaterials

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TSCA/SNUR/Nanotechnology:

Background

Continuing its robust exercise of its expansive TSCA authority, EPA last week released proposed Significant New Use Rules (“SNURs”) under TSCA for 37 chemicals, including 14 nanoengineered carbon compounds. The SNURs cover a wide range of uses, including the manufacture, processing, and import of adhesives, coatings, colorants, lubricants, chemical intermediates, etc., and result from premanufacture notice (“PMN”) submissions from as long ago as 2000. For almost half of the affected chemicals, the SNURs essentially codify protective measures already required under existing consent orders; the rest are largely based on PMN use scenarios.

EPA has already determined that 17 of the substances addressed by the proposed rule “may present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health or environment” and thus are subject to risk-based consent orders under TSCA § 5(e). The proposed SNURs for these substances adopt certain safety precautions already required by the consent orders. For example, for certain chemicals, workers would be required to wear specified respirators unless air monitoring shows that the substance is actually present in concentrations lower than the New Chemical Exposure Limit (“NCEL”). The NCEL provisions, already incorporated in the § 5(e) consent orders, were established by EPA “to provide adequate protection to human health” and modeled after Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs). Users who wish to pursue the NCEL alternative to the respirator requirement would have to request permission to do so under 40 CFR § 721.30 (“EPA approval of alternative control measures.”) EPA anticipates approving such requests under the same conditions already present in the consent orders.

The other 20 substances covered by the new SNURs are not subject to § 5(e) consent orders. These “non-5(e) SNURs” cover certain changes from the use scenarios described in the PMNs which could result in increased exposure, per 40 CFR § 721.170(c)(2).

In addition to personal protective equipment, the SNURs impose various standard use restrictions on the chemicals, such as prohibiting manufacture in the U.S., limiting use to conditions specified in existing consent orders, and banning release to water. EPA also recommends various types of toxicity testing to better characterize the new chemicals’ environmental effects.

Regulatory actions flowing from SNURs

Upon promulgation of the SNURs, any users of the affected substances will be required to determine whether they must submit a Significant New Use Notification (“SNUN”) to EPA 90 days prior to engaging in one of the designated “new uses.” On receipt of the SNUN, EPA may take further regulatory action under TSCA § 5(e), 5(f), 6 or 7, or otherwise publish a notice in the Federal Register explaining its reasons for not taking action.

In addition, EPA’s proposal of the SNURs triggers export notification requirements under TSCA § 12(b). Any exporter or intended exporter of the affected chemicals must notify EPA of the first export or intended export to a particular country, unless the substance is present at certain low concentrations that qualify for the de minimus exemption. If and when the SNURs are finalized, importers of the affected substances must also certify their compliance the SNURs.

EPA is accepting comments on the proposed SNURs through April 26, 2013.

Naming nanoscale materials and other CBI concerns

In the proposed SNURs, EPA identifies nanoengineered carbon compounds based on generic structural terms in order to protect the confidential chemical identities of the substances. EPA uses terms like, for example, “single-walled carbon nanotube” (or “SWCNT”), along with PMN numbers to identify the substances for inclusion in the TSCA Inventory.

The nomenclature developed by EPA is further described in a document, “Material Characterization of Carbon Nanotubes for Molecular Identity (MI) Determination & Nomenclature,” which should be available soon under the docket number EPA–HQ–OPPT–2012–0727. It is likely to be similar to or the same as the identically-named document published with the SNUR finalized in 2011 for a substance named as “multi-walled carbon nanotubes.”

If an intended user is uncertain whether its chemicals are subject to the new SNURs, EPA advises contacting the agency or obtaining a written determination under the bona fide procedures in 40 CFR § 721.11. Since production volume limits and certain other uses detailed in the proposed SNURs may also be claimed as CBI, users may not know whether their intended production volumes constitute a significant new use. The bona fide procedures also apply to such cases. If, after evaluating detailed submissions on the intended use, EPA finds that the user has a bona fide intent to manufacture, produce, or import the substance, the agency will advise whether the intended use would qualify as a significant new use.

Upcoming Public Hearing on California's Draft Green Chemistry Regulations

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California Green Chemistry Regulations:

California EPA and DTSC have announced a public meeting on the draft regulations.  The meeting will occur on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

See announcement embedded below.

CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY COUNCIL

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

Department of Toxic Substances Control’s

Safer Consumer Products Proposed Regulations

Need for a Multimedia Evaluation

The Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) will convene a public meeting of the California Environmental Policy Council (CEPC) to consider the need for a multimedia evaluation of the Safer Consumer Products regulations proposed by the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). The public meeting will commence as follows:

Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

2ndFloor – Sierra Hearing Room

Joe Serna, Jr. Cal/EPA Building

1001 “I” Street, Second Floor

Sacramento, California

At the public meeting, the CEPC will consider the DTSC staff report on the Need for a Multimedia Evaluation of the Safer Consumer Products Regulations. Based on the report and public comments, the CEPC will determine whether or not DTSC’s proposed regulations will have a significant adverse impact on public health or the environment.  The public comments made in this public meeting should be primarily focused on the recommendation contained in the DTSC report.

Persons interested in commenting on the DTSC Safer Consumer Products regulations must do so by sending their comments directly to DTSC as part of the rulemaking process,  by email to gcregs@dtsc.ca.gov, fax (916) 323-5542, or by mail to:

Department of Toxic Substances Control

Regulations Section

PO Box 806

Sacramento, CA 95812-0806

For further details or for a copy of the report, please visit Cal/EPA’s website at: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Cepc/

 

 

Virginia Assembly Opposes Agenda 21

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Sustainability:

Yes, from the state that brought us Thomas Jefferson and so many other leaders, we now get the following.  Leaders or not?  You decide.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 654

Offered January 9, 2013

Prefiled January 8, 2013

Recognizing the need to oppose United Nations Agenda 21.

———-

Patrons– Lingamfelter, Cole, Hodges, Landes and Peace

———-

Referred to Committee on Rules

———-

WHEREAS, United Nations Agenda 21, a comprehensive nonbinding, voluntarily implemented action plan concerning sustainable development, environmentalism, social engineering, and globalism, was first presented at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992; and

WHEREAS, United Nations Agenda 21 is being covertly introduced in states and local communities across the nation by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives through local sustainable development policies such as Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, and other “green” or “alternative” projects; and

WHEREAS, United Nations Agenda 21, a radical plan of purported “sustainable development,” envisions the American way of life of private property ownership, single-family homes, and individual freedoms as destructive to the environment; and

WHEREAS, in addition, social justice is described by United Nations Agenda 21 as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded by society and the environment that would be accomplished by the redistribution of wealth; and

WHEREAS, United Nations Agenda 21, referring to the 21st century, is an action agenda of the United Nations, other multilateral organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels; United Nations Agenda 21 has been affirmed and modified at subsequent United Nations conferences and various countries have become signatories, including the United States; and

WHEREAS, because United Nations Agenda 21 is not a treaty, the United States Senate has been unable to hold a formal debate or vote to ratify it, and the executive branch has not acted on it in any way; nevertheless, there is support in Congress for United Nations Agenda 21 and over 528 United States cities have become members of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international sustainability organization that helps to implement the Agenda 21 and Local Agenda 21 concepts across the world; and

WHEREAS, according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, national sovereignty is deemed a social injustice and opposition to the policy has increased over the last 10 years in the United States at the local, state, and federal levels, and several state and local governments have passed legislation rejecting United Nations Agenda 21 as “erosive of American sovereignty”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly recognize the need to oppose United Nations Agenda 21 due to its radical plan of purported “sustainable development,” and that the General Assembly recognize the policy’s infringement on the American way of life and individual freedoms and ability to erode American sovereignty.

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the United States Secretary of State, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation in order that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter during their deliberations.

Global Mercury Reduction Treaty Finalized

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UN/Mercury:

Last week in Geneva, Switzerland, over 140 countries finalized the first global mercury reduction treaty, the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The treaty follows four years of negotiations among national environment ministers.

The Convention is named in honor of Minamata, the Japanese city which suffered severe public health effects from mercury pollution over 50 years ago, and where the diplomatic ceremony and official signing of the treaty will take place in October.

The Minamata Convention commits countries to reducing mercury in two main ways: (1) by phasing out its use in products and (2) by requiring new coal-fired power plants to employ the best available technology to cut mercury emissions. By 2020, manufacturing and trading in “mercury-added” products – like batteries (except ‘button cell’ batteries used in implantable medical devices); switches and relays; certain types of light bulbs; and soaps and cosmetics – will be banned. Other provisions of the treaty include phasing out primary mercury mining and restricting trade on mercury from decommissioning chlor-alkali plants.

Critics such as environmental NGOs have already found fault with the Convention’s lenient approach to existing coal plants and artisanal small-scale gold mining, the two largest global sources of mercury emissions. Under the Convention, countries where artisanal small-scale gold mining is practiced have within three years of the treaty entering into force to implement action plans to reduce mercury use in mining, but the treaty does not provide for an enforcement mechanism. Likewise, decisions on triggering thresholds for existing mercury-emitting facilities have been deferred until the first meeting of the treaty after it comes into force. Negotiators also agreed to funding mechanisms to assist developing countries implement the Convention and support capacity-building and technical assistance.

China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) Releases Regular Reporting Requirements for Four New Substances

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China:

On January 4, 2013, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) released regular reporting requirements for four new substances under its chemical registration regime. Two of the newly certified compounds are classified as hazardous and the other two as dangerous.  Under China’s new chemical registration regime, the “Provisions on the Environmental Administration of New Chemical Substances (MEP Decree No. 7),” companies with certificates must file annual reports to the Chemical Registration Center (CRC) of the MEP.  The reports detail activities that occurred with the registered chemicals.

This announcement marks the sixth set of chemicals to be certified under China’s registration program for new chemical substances. More details on the affected chemicals, as well as reporting deadlines and contact information with the Chemical Registration Center of the MEP, are available in the MEP’s original notice (in Chinese).

IRIS Remains Under Fire

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Risk Assessment/IRIS:

EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (“IRIS”), which assesses the human health risks associated with chemical exposure, has come under fire from the head of the scientific panel charged by Congress to review the program.

In recent years, IRIS has been the subject of much criticism, causing Congress to direct a panel of the National Research Council (“NRC”), an arm of the National Academies, to review EPA’s assessment of arsenic and other chemicals and issue recommendations to improve “scientific and technical performance.” NRC is also currently conducting a review of the overall IRIS process for developing assessments and the current methods available for weight-of-evidence analyses, with the goal of recommending “approaches for weighing scientific evidence for chemical hazard and dose-response assessments.”

In 2011, NRC found fault with the agency’s IRIS assessment of formaldehyde, and EPA is in in the process of implementing some of the panel’s recommendations from that review.

However, EPA’s attempts to improve the program have provoked criticism from the very panel whose recommendations the agency is trying to adopt. At a December 18, 2012 meeting with EPA officials, the head of the NRC review panel, Professor Jonathan Samet of the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, raised concerns that EPA’s ongoing changes to the IRIS process presented the panel with a difficult “moving target.” Samet noted that “it seems like literally every aspect of the IRIS assessment process” is changing, complicating NRC’s review.

EPA’s newly revised IRIS process will be on display in its assessment of benzo[a]pyrene, which is expected to be released in coming months.

In another example of overlapping agendas, both EPA and NRC have planned upcoming events on weight-of-evidence assessments. Vince Cogliano, head of the IRIS program, told meeting attendees that EPA would coordinate with NRC so that the two events would be complementary and further strengthen weight-of-evidence analyses.

Meanwhile, EPA has also announced that it is “restarting” its IRIS assessment of arsenic. The new assessment process is expanded to include inhalation risks and will also combine studies of cancer and non-cancer effects for a broader overview of the chemical’s health risks. EPA held a January 8-9, 2013 workshop to gather public input on the assessment, the first meeting of its kind. The NRC panel reviewing the arsenic assessment will also collect public input and provide EPA with an interim report prior to EPA’s release of the draft assessment, which the panel will also peer review.

CRS Report Published on Chemical Regulation Issues for 113th Congress

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TSCA Reform:

Last week, the Congressional Research Service (“CRS”) released a new report previewing chemical regulation issues for the 113th Congress. According to CRS, lawmakers are likely to prioritize legislative priorities that languished in the last Congress, like bills that would require increased public disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing as well as a proposal to broadly reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”).

Legislative TSCA reform efforts are already under way; in a January 4, 2013 statement on EPA’s release of its TSCA Work Plan draft risk assessments, Sen. Frank Lautenberg emphasized the continuing need to pass TSCA reform. A long-time advocate of TSCA reform, Sen. Lautenberg promised that he would re-introduce his Safe Chemicals Act. Last summer, the Safe Chemicals Act was successfully reported out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works but failed to win Republican support and never reached a floor vote. Sen. David Vitter is reportedly preparing a competing TSCA reform bill for the new Congress as well.

CRS also highlighted scientific integrity issues that have been raised in recent years, such as the compositional balance of EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board and the need for reforming the agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (“IRIS”) for conducting chemical risk assessments. Legislators may also pick up where the 112th Congress left off on exempting the regulation of certain pesticide applications under the Clean Water Act. In addition, Congress may amend existing statutes to implement three U.S.-signed treaties on the reduction of persistent organic pollutants (“POPs”). In appropriations activity, CRS reported that Congress is expected to revise parameters for grants that address lead paint hazards in older homes, a program which is generally funded at over $100 million.

Verdant Settles EPCRA Enforcement Matter for New Cingular Wireless

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EPCRA:

Verdant is pleased to announce that it helped its client, New Cingular Wireless, reach a favorable settlement with EPA over a longstanding EPCRA enforecement matter involving legacy facilities owned by a predecessor company.  A copy of EPA’s press release is embedded below. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and New Cingular Wireless (NCW) have reached an administrative settlement requiring the company to pay a civil penalty of $750,000 and spend $625,000 on environmental projects to resolve alleged reporting, planning and permitting violations at 332 legacy AT&T Wireless (AWS) sites now owned by NCW.

The violations, which occurred at AWS sites in 43 states, such as cellular towers, transmitter sites, switching stations and warehouses, included failure to comply with Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) reporting requirements related to the presence of sulfuric acid and diesel fuel at sites, inadequate or no Clean Water Act (CWA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) Plans, and Clean Air Act (CAA) minor source permitting requirements.

The EPCRA requirements help communities plan for emergencies involving hazardous substances, the CWA’s SPCC rule requires facilities to have oil spill prevention, preparedness, and response plans to help prevent oil discharges to navigable waters and adjoining shorelines, and the minor source permitting requirements under the CAA ensure that air emissions limits are met.

Under the settlement, NCW will provide a certification of EPCRA compliance at 1,356 sites and conduct comprehensive compliance audits of CAA and CWA/SPCC requirements at 1,361 and 41 legacy-AWS facilities, respectively. NCW has also agreed to pay stipulated penalties for all disclosed and corrected violations discovered through these audits.

NCW has also agreed to conduct environmental projects, which will provide hazardous materials awareness and health/safety training to building inspectors and fire fighters. The projects will also support the procurement of emergency response equipment such as fire-fighting equipment, gas meters, hazmat identification equipment, satellite phones and other emergency communications equipment. The seven entities, located in four states that will benefit from the projects are: Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and Georges Lake Volunteer Fire Department, Putnam County, Fla., New York City Fire Department, N.Y., Yancey, Texas Volunteer Fire Department, Texas, and San Diego, County California Office of Emergency Services, Bodega Bay, California Fire Protection District, and Los Angeles, California Police Department Calif.

Since 1998, nearly 6,000 telecommunications facilities have been brought into compliance through more than 30 settlements as part of EPA’s effort to improve compliance in the telecommunications sector.

More information on the New Cingular Wireless settlement: http://www.epa.gov/enforcement/waste/cases/att.html

EPA finalizes withdrawal of TSCA § 8(d) reporting rule for cadmium

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TSCA:

As we previously reported, EPA announced that it would withdraw its TSCA § 8(d) final rule requiring manufacturers of cadmium or cadmium compounds to report certain unpublished health and safety studies. Today, EPA released the pre-publication version of the final rule withdrawing the December 3, 2012 reporting rule. The reporting rule for cadmium was withdrawn due to “significant confusion…in certain industrial sectors subject to the final rule,” including uncertainty about which industries were subject to the rule.

EPA’s action today is based on the agency’s conclusion that the commenters’ concerns constitute good cause to withdraw the reporting rule without prior notice and comment per the Administrative Procedures Act. Likewise, because the withdrawal does not impose any new requirements, EPA found that the action is not subject to any Executive Orders (such as E.O. 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review”), nor is it subject to the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act or Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. Per the Congressional Review Act (“CRA”), EPA will submit the withdrawal document along with other required information to Congress and the Comptroller General. Following section 808 of the CRA, the withdrawal rule will take effect early, on January 2, 2013.   A draft copy of the Federal Register notice is available here:  Prepublication_Cadmium-FRM-Withdrawal_2012-12-20[1].