Environmentalists, EPA At Odds Over Use Of Low-Priority TSCA Reviews

摘要

Environmentalists are urging EPA to aggressively use its data collection power in the revised toxics law for its plan to prioritize existing chemicals for review and limit designations of substances as low priorities for review, but the agency says data collection is time-consuming and that low-priority findings can help conserve limited resources. EPA on Dec. 11 held a public meeting in Washington, D.C., to hear input on potential approaches for pre-prioritization of chemicals for review under the recently revised Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The Obama EPA in January proposed a pre-prioritization process for existing chemicals, but the Trump EPA removed that process from the final rule issued in June, saying it needed more public input. During the meeting, officials with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families urged EPA staff to use new authority under TSCA to collect data on chemicals that may be prioritized for review, and said that designating a broad array of chemicals as low priority for review would be contrary to the law's intent.