The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting public comments on the experts under consideration for membership on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC). Biographies of the candidates are available in Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0135. Comments are due August 21, 2020. EPA states that it will use public comments to assist it in selecting multiple members of SACC over the next year. EPA expects to appoint approximately 15...
Chemical manufacturers and processors have just over four months to submit Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) data by the November 30, 2020, close of the reporting period. To assist companies in that process, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) affiliate The Acta Group (Acta®) developed CDR Cross-Check™, an ingenious and cost-efficient tool to identify whether a company’s chemicals are subject to CDR reporting and if so, at what reporting threshold. CDR Cross-Check will identify:...
On July 16, 2020, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final risk evaluation for methylene chloride. The NGOs seek review of EPA’s determination “that the chemical methylene chloride does not present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under certain conditions of use” and its decision not to consider “certain uses...
July 12, 2020
EPA OIG Finds Additional Internal Controls Would Improve EPA’s System for Electronic Disclosure of Environmental Violations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released on June 30, 2022, a report entitled “Additional Internal Controls Would Improve the EPA’s System for Electronic Disclosure of Environmental Violations.” OIG conducted the evaluation to determine whether EPA’s process for screening self-reported violations through its electronic disclosure, or eDisclosure, system is effective and ensures that significant concerns, such as criminal conduct and...
On June 24, 2020, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), The Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health presented “TSCA Reform — Four Years Later.” A full recording of the seminar, including a keynote address by Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and comments by the Hon. John...
On June 24, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a New Approach Methods (NAM) Work Plan that will “serve[] as a roadmap for meeting its animal testing reduction goals set forth in Administrator Andrew Wheeler’s 2019 Directive.” According to EPA’s June 24, 2020, press release, the Work Plan describes how EPA plans to develop, test, and apply chemical safety testing approaches that reduce or replace the use of animals. EPA states that...
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...
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...
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...
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...