EPA Publishes Final Rule on Partial Exemption of Certain Chemical Substances from Reporting Additio

On March 29, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the Partial Exemption of Certain Chemical Substances from Reporting Additional Chemical Data final rule in the Federal Register. This final rule amends the list of chemical substances that are partially exempt from additional reporting requirements under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule. The rule applies to six biodiesel chemicals that are very similar to petroleum based biodiesel chemicals that are already on the exempt list. EPA determined that CDR processing and use information for these chemical substances is of low current interest and, while the chemical substances can be removed from the exempt list in the future, manufacturers are now exempt from submitting processing and use information for:

• Fatty acids, C14-18 and C16-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) No. 67762-26-9);
   
• Fatty acids, C16-18 and C-18 unsaturated, methyl esters (CAS No. 67762-38-3);
   
• Fatty acids, canola oil, methyl esters (CAS No.129828-16-6);
   
• Fatty acids, corn oil, methyl esters (CAS No. 515152-40-6);
   
• Fatty acids, tallow, methyl esters (CAS No. 61788-61-2); and
   
• Soybean oil, methyl esters (CAS No. 67784-80-9).

This exemption was created after the Biobased and Renewable Advocacy Group (BRAG^®) petitioned EPA in 2014 to create an equivalent exemption for six biodiesel versions of petroleum based chemicals that were already exempt from submitting processing and use information under the CDR rule.