On April 7, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce announced that the Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a legislative hearing on a new discussion draft of the TSCA [Toxic Substances Control Act] Modernization Act, released by Committee Chair John Shimkus (R-IL) the same day -- April 7, 2015. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at 10:15 a.m. (EDT) in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. U.S. Environmental...
April 6, 2015
Comments Due July 6 on Proposed Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Nanoscale Materials
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 8(a) proposed rule concerning reporting and recordkeeping requirements for certain chemical substances when manufactured or processed at the nanoscale was published in the April 6, 2015, Federal Register. EPA proposes to require persons that manufacture or process these chemical substances to report electronically to EPA certain information, including the specific chemical identity, production...
On March 26, 2015, a group of ethanol and agricultural groups sent a letter (the industry letter) to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies to express their strong opposition to including certain language harmful to the ethanol industry in the Fiscal Year 2016 Agriculture, Rural Development, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Related Programs Appropriations bill....
On March 25, 2015, EPA announced the direct final rule, Regulation of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Cellulosic Waiver Credit Price and Minor Amendments to Renewable Fuel Standard Regulations, that would result in cellulosic waiver credit prices being posted on the EPA website rather than as a result of the rulemaking process. This would allow the credit prices to be announced as soon as the needed data for the wholesale price of gasoline is available, which would provide more certainty to the...
On March 30, 2015, the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) submitted a petition to EPA seeking reconsideration and a request for stay of EPA's approval of the Argentinian Camara Argentina de Biocombustibles (CARBIO) Alternative Biomass Tracking Program. According to the NBB press release, EPA failed to provide an opportunity for public comment on the EPA decision and a lack of transparency as to how the Argentinian biodiesel producers will demonstrate compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard...
On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew a Direct Final Rule for Partial Exemption of Certain Chemical Substances from Reporting Additional Chemical Data. The direct final rule, issued in January 2015, would have exempted manufacturers of six biobased diesel chemicals from reporting processing and use information for the compounds under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. It resulted from a regulatory petition filed by the Biobased and Renewable Advocacy...
On March 26, 2015, Mr. David Saltman, Chairman of Biobased and Renewable Products Advocacy Group (BRAG®) member company Malama Composites, spoke at NPE2015: The International Plastics Showcase on "Designing the Future: How Materials Can Change the World."
Recently, the results of a three-year University of Maryland study assessing the potential chronic sublethal effects on whole honey bee colonies of a diet containing imidacloprid, an insecticide that belongs to the neonicotinoid class of chemicals, at 5, 20, and 100 μg/kg over multiple brood cycles have been released. The study, Assessment of Chronic Sublethal Effects of Imidacloprid on Honey Bee Colony Health, funded primarily by a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of...
March 27, 2015
USDA NOP Releases New Policy Memo on Nanotechnology
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) issued on March 24, 2015, a policy memorandum clarifying the status of nanotechnology in organic production and handling under the USDA organic regulations. The memorandum states that NOP has received questions about the use of nanotechnology. The memorandum uses the term “engineered nanomaterials” to refer to substances specifically designed and manufactured to have unique properties or behavior attributable to...
March 27, 2015
Legislation Introduced In Senate To Phase Out RFS
On March 18, 2015, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced S. 791, "The American Energy Renaissance Act of 2015." Representative Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) introduced companion legislation, H.R. 1487. The legislation would phase out the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), approve the Keystone XL pipeline, open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas exploration, and stop EPA from regulating GHG emissions. Under the bill, the RFS would start to be phased out in 2016 with a 20 percent reduction...