4. CHEMICALS: Lautenberg tries again on TSCA reform legislation (04/14/2011)

Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D) introduced sweeping legislation today that would significantly modernize how the nation's chemicals are regulated.

Lautenberg's "Safe Chemicals Act of 2011" would update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which grants U.S. EPA the authority to regulate chemicals. First passed in 1976, TSCA is the country's only environmental statute that has never received a congressional update.

The bill calls for a seismic shift in the way chemical information is obtained by EPA by putting the burden on industry to prove that chemicals on the market are safe. Currently, that chore falls to EPA, which can only call for safety testing after evidence surfaces that a chemical poses a health risk.

EPA has tested 200 chemicals out of approximately 80,000 in commerce as a result of the existing process, and the agency has only banned five, Lautenberg said.

"The average American has more than 200 industrial chemicals in their body, including dozens linked to cancer and other health problems," Lautenberg said in a statement. "The shocking truth is that the current law does not require tests to ensure chemicals used in everyday household products are safe."

Lautenberg added: "EPA does not have the tools to address dangerous substances and even the chemical industry has asked for stronger laws to assure consumers that their products are safe."

Modernizing TSCA has become a legacy issue for Lautenberg, who introduced similar legislation last year. That bill was hailed by chemical watchdogs who have long called for updating the environmental law. And the then-larger Democratic majority in the Senate was believed to give the bill a good chance of passing.

Industry groups opposed several aspects of that bill, however, and it stalled in the run-up to the midterm elections. That led some experts to believe the best shot at updating the law was missed.

Since then, Lautenberg has held a series of hearings as the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health. As a result, Lautenberg touted differences between this year's bill and last year's -- including a risk-based prioritization system that would allow EPA to focus on chemicals that pose the highest health risk.

Green groups again praised Lautenberg for the legislation.

"Nobody has provided more leadership in the effort to protect children from exposure to dangerous toxic chemicals," said Jason Rano of the Environmental Working Group. "Senator Lautenberg is the father of modern-day chemicals policy reform and we look forward to working with him to build support for this common-sense approach."

And Richard Denison, who closely follows TSCA development for the Environmental Defense Fund, said Lautenberg's bill should appease some industry concerns.

"This bill is improved in terms of health protections and in workability in terms of EPA finite resources and its finite capacity to do safety determinations," Denison said. "It addresses several of the problems industry had."

Specifically, Lautenberg's bill is multi-pronged. It would require chemical manufacturers to provide a minimum data set to EPA for every chemical they produce and prove those substances are safe. It also seeks to prevent duplicative or unnecessary testing and encourage the use of low-cost, non-animal tests to obtain those data.

The legislation calls on EPA to prioritize those chemicals based on the health risk they pose. It would grant the EPA administrator authority to act quickly on chemicals that could be dangerous. It would also create a public database of this chemical information and establish grant programs for developing "green" -- or safer -- chemical alternatives.

The future of Lautenberg's legislation remains unclear. It is co-sponsored by Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), which indicates that it will likely be a priority of that panel. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also co-sponsored the legislation.

Groups on all sides of the issue have said TSCA reform is long overdue. EPA has publicly called for expanded authority under TSCA to regulate chemicals. And the program was recently listed on the Government Accountability Office's annual "high risk list" of troubled federal programs (Greenwire, Feb. 16).

"This bill," said Daniel Rosenberg of the Natural Resources Defense Council, "presents Congress with an opportunity and a challenge: Can the House and Senate overcome paralysis and partisanship to address a nationwide problem that threatens consumers' health and the ability of businesses to assure the public that their products are safe?"

Industry support?

Industry groups like the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA) have also called for reforming the chemical law in large part because lax regulations have led to distrust between consumers and chemical products.

Lautenberg emphasized in his announcement that the principles of his bill are in line with those of ACC.

ACC, however, indicated that it wasn't on board with Lautenberg's bill.

In a statement, ACC President Cal Dooley said several of parts of Lautenberg's bill from last year to which ACC objected appear again in the new version.

"Unfortunately, it appears many of our concerns have not been addressed in this new version, and the bill introduced today could put American innovation and jobs at risk," Dooley said.

In a statement, SOCMA's Christine Sanchez said "now is the time to modernize TSCA." However, she added that Lautenberg's bill would have significant impacts on her group's members.

"Sweeping changes like the ones proposed in this bill would negatively impact innovation and hasten the off-shoring of jobs," Sanchez said.

Sanchez said that SOCMA members met with Lautenberg's staff yesterday and they gave "little to no detail about the bill, passing on an opportunity to discuss its details with industry representatives in his state."

Sanchez added that meetings on Capitol Hill with other lawmakers revealed that the "prospects of bipartisan passage of the bill seem dim."