On June 22, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled out its new Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act Frequent Questions webpage.  This webpage will be a resource for Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform-related updates and implementation plans.  EPA has also posted a summary of key provisions, its six essential principles for reform of chemicals management legislation, the presentation from its informational webinar on June 30, 2016, in which EPA provided an overview of the new TSCA, and an unofficial version of TSCA as recently amended.

If you are having trouble understanding basic process flows under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), please reference Dr. Richard A. Denison’s flow charts that depict the basic processes applicable to existing chemicals already in commerce, and applicable to new chemicals prior to market entry.  Comparisons are shown between the processes under the old and new TSCA.  Dr. Denison is a Lead Senior Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  There are three flowcharts available:

• How the Lautenberg Act Works (Existing Chemicals);
• How the Original TSCA Worked (Existing Chemicals); and
• TSCA vs. Lautenberg Act (New Chemicals).

You can access the flow charts in Dr. Denison’s blog post on EDF’s Health webpage:  Understanding basic process flows under the new TSCA.

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Margaret R. Graham

On June 29, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted an Implementation Plan that outlines EPA’s plans for early activities and actions under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, legislation that significantly amends many of the provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  The amended TSCA has been identified as Public Law Number (Pub. L. No.) 114-182.  EPA notes that the new law imposes new responsibilities on EPA, while providing “comparatively short” deadlines to implement them.  EPA “takes these responsibilities and deadlines seriously,” and intends for the Implementation Plan to be a roadmap of the major activities on which EPA will focus during the initial year of implementation.  EPA organizes the Implementation Plan by the statutory timeframes during which the activities must be completed, rather than by what is of importance to EPA.  EPA states that the Implementation Plan is a living document, and EPA will further develop it over time.  EPA cautions that the Implementation Plan “is NOT intended to be a comprehensive listing of all requirements in the new law.” 

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C^®) is pleased that EPA is making strong early efforts to communicate and engage with stakeholders about its early implementation of the new TSCA and its thinking regarding specific provisions.  Completing the items listed in the Implementation Plan represents a prodigious amount of work for EPA over the coming months and years.  Stakeholders will need to be prepared to respond thoughtfully to rules, lists, and process descriptions as they appear in the Federal Register, or as they are posted.

More information on EPA’s Implementation Plan is available in our memorandum TSCA Reform: EPA Publishes First Year Implementation Plan.

For a deeper dive into how and when Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) programs will change and adapt to “New TSCA,” Chemical Watch and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C^®) are offering a series of complimentary webinars on “‘The New TSCA’ -- What You Need to Know,” featuring an impressive faculty of TSCA experts representing the perspectives of industry, environmental organizations, and U.S. Federal and State regulatory authorities.  The second one in the series, Impacts on New and Existing Chemicals Programs (Sections 4, 5 and 6), is scheduled for July 14, 2016.  The archived webcast for the first webinar, Major Changes: What to Expect and When to Expect It, is available online.  The third and fourth webinars in the series, on Information and Reporting (Sections 8 and 14), and other provisions -- PBTs, Preemption, Green/Sustainable Chemistry, will be scheduled soon.  The webinars are moderated by B&C Managing Partner Lynn L. Bergeson.

An in-depth memorandum of the reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), TSCA Reform:  An Analysis of Key Provisions and Fundamental Shifts in the Amended TSCA, includes an initial overview, a summary of information on the timing of various activities under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg) as related to enactment and other important milestones, and a more detailed discussion of the changes in Lautenberg relative to TSCA as they relate to these and other provisions.  This and other Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C^®) memoranda regarding TSCA reform are available on the B&C website.

In a June 22, 2016, blog post on The Hill's Congress Blog, Lynn L. Bergeson laid out four reasons why the American public has reason to celebrate the signing into law of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, “a comprehensive and vastly improved domestic chemical management law”:

• Reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) strikes the requisite balance between Congressional specificity and Agency discretion.
• Reformed TSCA addresses the law’s most celebrated deficits.
• Reformed TSCA gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to do its job:  manage chemical risks.
• Reformed TSCA ensures greater transparency and public engagement in the chemical evaluation process.

Read the full blog post at The Hill: TSCA reform: renewing public confidence in chemical control.

In-House Counsel Beware:  TSCA Reform Impacts Everyone, an article by Lynn L. Bergeson, on Law360, outlines the extensive revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that will impact legal practices and business operations, due to the new TSCA law, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.  The content includes:

• TSCA Reform, What Just Happened?;
• The New TSCA and the New Normal;
• How the New TSCA Will Impact Product Manufacturers; and
• A list of seven “need-to-know” aspects for in-house counsel regarding how the new law works, when these impacts will occur, and how best to be prepared for them.

On June 7, 2016, the Senate passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg) by voice vote and sent it to President Obama for signature. As reported in our May 26, 2016, memorandum, "An Analysis of Key Provisions and Fundamental Shifts in the Amended TSCA," the Act includes new requirements in Sections 4, 5, 6, and 8 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). These new requirements, among others, will need to be met in promulgating currently proposed regulations, as well as in proposing/promulgating future regulations.

One important change in this regard is the way that Lautenberg changes the requirements on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it includes articles within the scope of Section 5(a)(2) Significant New Use Rules (SNUR). Several relatively recent SNURs, as proposed, included imported/processed articles within their scope and would be affected by this amendment if the article provisions are retained in a final rule. Examples include proposed SNURs on certain polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE), toluene diisocyanates (TDI), and long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylate (LCPFAC) and perfluoroalkyl sulfonate (PFAS) chemicals.

One interesting question to consider is the need for EPA to re-propose these SNURs if it intends to retain the requirements on imported/processed articles in the final rule. If these provisions are retained, it appears that EPA would need to re-propose the rule at a minimum to satisfy the requirement at Lautenberg Section 5(a)(5) that EPA make an affirmative finding that the reasonable potential for exposure to the chemical through the article or category of articles justifies notification.

In addition, EPA's Spring 2016 Regulatory agenda lists several SNURs under TSCA that are at the proposed rule stage, including SNURs for alkylpyrrolidone products and certain uses of trichloroethylene (TCE). These rulemakings would need to address the Lautenberg changes in the proposal.

The Spring 2016 Regulatory agenda also lists three proposed rulemakings under TSCA Section 6(a), and a TSCA Section 4 test rule. The former will be affected by Lautenberg while the latter may be affected depending on the approach taken as discussed in our memorandum.

Read the full memorandum,  TSCA:  What Effect Will the TSCA Amendments Have on Proposed and Future Rulemakings?, online.