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October 2, 2015

James V. Aidala Quoted in BNA Daily Environment Report Article “Senate Leaders Will Bring TSCA Bill to Floor: Inhofe”

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.

The July 31, 2015, Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report spoke with James V. Aidala regarding the progress of Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) modernization legislation.

James Aidala, senior government affairs consultant with the law firm  Bergeson & Campbell P.C., said reaching an agreement on preemption is key.

Aidala was associate assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances from 1993 to 2000, and previously worked in the pesticides program, for two congressional committees and with the Congressional Research Service focusing on TSCA and pesticides.

Senators on both sides of the aisle would have little to lose, Aidala said, by agreeing to add language to S. 697 that would object to asbestos and to provide information in case of chemical spills, such as January’s spill into West Virginia’s Elk River that left more than 300,000 residents without drinking water for days.

One path forward would be for the Senate to proceed with a vote approving its bill, which would preempt state chemical regulations earlier than would the House’s TSCA Modernization Act, Aidala said.

The preemption issue would then be deferred until a formal or informal conference on the bills, he said.