By Lynn L. Bergeson, Carla N. Hutton, Charles M. Auer, Oscar Hernandez, Ph.D., and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D.
On June 26, 2017, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) issued a summary and analysis of the three final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) framework rules released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 22, 2017, EPA Issues Final TSCA Framework Rules. The final rules include the prioritization process rule, which establishes EPA’s process and criteria for identifying High-Priority chemicals for risk evaluation and Low-Priority chemicals for which risk evaluation is not warranted at this time; the risk evaluation process rule, which establishes EPA’s process for evaluating High-Priority chemicals to determine whether or not they present an unreasonable risk to health or the environment; and the TSCA Inventory active-inactive rule, which requires industry to report chemicals manufactured, imported, or processed in the U.S. over the past ten years. EPA also published pre-publication notices concerning the scopes of the risk evaluations to be conducted for the first ten chemical substances under new TSCA and a guidance document to assist interested persons in developing and submitting draft risk evaluations.
B&C states that on the whole, the final rules improve upon the proposed rules, adding clarity and specificity where needed, and eliminating provisions and or preamble text that, in our view, enhance the clarity of the rules. Not everyone will be happy, however, as the rules reconsider, revise, and in some instances retreat from positions taken in the proposed rules issued under the Obama Administration. Our analysis identifies these changes.
