By Lynn L. Bergeson On July 1, 2020, DOE’s EERE announced that the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) issued a Notice of Opportunity (NOO) providing small businesses and other industry partners with more affordable access to ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC). The NOO allows small businesses to undertake collaborative, short-term R&D projects that accelerate the development of new energy-efficient building technologies. Funded by DOE’s...
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On July 1, 2020, DOE’s EERE announced a request for proposals (RFP) for R&D projects that support DOE’s H2@Scale vision for large-scale, affordable hydrogen production, storage, distribution, and utilization across various sectors. H2@Scale is an initiative focused on exploring the potential for wide-scale hydrogen production and utilization in the United States to enable resilience and sustainability of the power generation and...
July 3, 2020
House Select Committee On Climate Crisis Publishes Report On Action Plan For A Clean Energy Economy
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. This June, the House Select Committee on Climate Crisis released a report titled “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.” Providing a road map for Congress to follow, the action plan has three main goals: Reaching 100 percent clean, net zero emissions economy-wide in the U.S. by 2050; Establishing ambitious interim targets...
By Lynn L. Bergeson On June 29, 2020, the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) published a request for information (RFI) on challenges and opportunities in the up- and mid-stream critical materials battery supply chains. As demand for critical materials such as lithium and cobalt for the manufacturing of batteries continues to grow, DOE is seeking ways to reduce U.S. dependence on critical materials. According to...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 2, 2020, that it registered NSPW Nanosilver as a new active ingredient that helps suppress odor-causing bacteria, and algae, fungus, mold, and mildew that can cause deterioration or staining in textiles. EPA notes that NSPW Nanosilver is registered only for use in specified textiles, including fabrics, sportswear, footwear, linens, and awnings. NSPW Nanosilver is the active ingredient in the pesticide product...
On June 26, 2020, the European Commission (EC) published a regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union that amends Annex II of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. Annex II describes the requirements for compiling safety data sheets (SDS). The EC notes that specific requirements for nanoforms of substances took effect on January 1, 2020, and that information related to those requirements is to be...
June 30, 2020
Industry Associations Petition EPA to Develop Risk Management Procedural Rule under TSCA
On June 3, 2020, the American Coatings Association (ACA), National Association of Manufacturers, Toy Association, National Association of Home Builders, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop a risk management procedural rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to ACA’s June 15, 2020, press release, ACA “believes that a procedural rule would provide guard rails to ensure consistency, transparency and effective...
On June 22, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted summary judgment for the Plaintiffs in National Association of Wheat Growers et. al. v. Becerra, and entered a permanent injunction against enforcement of a Proposition 65 (Prop 65) warning label for pesticide products containing glyphosate. The court found that requiring the registrants of glyphosate products to include such a warning could not be justified as a valid restriction on commercial...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Federal Register notice on January 27, 2020, identifying the preliminary lists of manufacturers (including importers) of the 20 chemical substances that EPA designated as high-priority substances for risk evaluation and for which fees will be charged. 85 Fed. Reg. 4661. During the comment period, manufacturers (including importers) are required to self-identify as manufacturers of a high-priority substance irrespective of whether...
On June 25, 2020, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) Program Performance One-Pager (PPOP). NTRC conducts research to understand the potential effects on human health of exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) and develops methods to control or eliminate exposures. According to the PPOP, NTRC’s accomplishments include conducting a survey to gather information about companies’ safety and...
On June 30, 2020, from 9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. (EDT), the European Union (EU) NanoSafety Cluster will hold a webinar on “Immune response from occupational exposure to CNTs and nanofibres.” The following speakers will discuss work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the association of occupational exposure with ex vivo functional immune response in workers handling carbon nanotubes and...
This week’s All Things Chemical™ Podcast will be of interest to readers of the TSCAblog™. A brief description of the episode written by Lynn L. Bergeson is below. This week I sat down with EPA Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn. As many of our listeners know, Alex Dunn heads the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and is responsible for implementing the nation’s industrial and agricultural chemical laws, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and...
June 24, 2020
EPA Orders OCCS, Inc. to Stop Sales of Unregistered Antimicrobial Disinfectant Products
On June 17, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Order (SSURO) to OCCS, Inc. (OCCS) for the sale and distribution of unregistered antimicrobial disinfectants. EPA Region 9 states in a press release that OCCS, a chemical supply company located in Stanton, California, distributed and sold two unregistered products, Sanitizer/Quat Solution Ready to Use and Quat Solution Ready to Use Cleaner, in violation of the Federal Insecticide,...
During the week of June 15, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California heard from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final three witnesses: Dr. Joyce Tsuji, Dr. Ellen Chang, and Dr. Tala Henry. Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA, Case No. 3:17-cv-02162-EMC. Dr. Tsuji did not dispute that fluoride can be a neurotoxin at “high enough levels.” Dr. Tsuji contended that the scientific literature remains too limited to establish...
June 18, 2020
Video and Slides Available from National Academies Briefing Webinar on Quadrennial Review of NNI
On June 9, 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) held a briefing webinar featuring its report, A Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. During the webinar, members of the ad hoc National Academies committee discussed how U.S. nanotechnology programs compare to those in other nations, whether coordination under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) should continue, and how to improve the NNI’s...
On June 9, 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) held a briefing webinar featuring its report, A Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. During the webinar, members of the ad hoc National Academies committee discussed how U.S. nanotechnology programs compare to those in other nations, whether coordination under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) should continue, and how to improve the NNI’s...
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a public webinar on July 1, 2020, to receive information from interested parties about changes to CPSC’s Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, www.SaferProducts.gov, that are in development to improve the website’s usefulness and navigability. CPSC states in its June 18, 2020, Federal Register notice that based, in part, on input from a March 2019 public hearing, CPSC is holding the webinar to show the...
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will hold a public webinar on July 1, 2020, to receive information from interested parties about changes to CPSC’s Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, www.SaferProducts.gov, that are in development to improve the website’s usefulness and navigability. CPSC states in its June 18, 2020, Federal Register notice that based, in part, on input from a March 2019 public hearing, CPSC is holding the webinar to show the...
On June 16, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of the 2020 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. EPA states that this year’s winners “have developed new and innovative green chemistry technologies that turn potential environmental challenges into business opportunities, spurring innovation and economic development.” The 2020 winners and their innovative technologies are: EPA plans to recognize the winners at a ceremony in...
On June 11, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in a press release that it issued stop sale, use, or removal orders (SSURO) to Amazon.com Services LLC (Amazon) and eBay, Inc. (eBay) for selling certain pesticide products that EPA claims are unregistered, misbranded, or restricted-use pesticides, and pesticide devices that EPA asserts make false or misleading claims. The SSUROs address over 30 products sold on Amazon and over 40...