OMB Urged To Question Lack Of Small Business Review For EPA TCE Rule

摘要

Representatives from the halogenated solvents and dry cleaning industries are urging the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to question EPA's lack of a small business impacts review for its pending proposal to regulate the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE), saying a completed review is vital before EPA can issue any rule. At a recent meeting with OMB officials, the representatives also reiterated concerns about what they see as flaws in the risk assessment underlying the draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule for TCE. The industries' push-back is an attempt to influence OMB's oversight of the proposed rule, which EPA submitted to the White House for mandatory pre-publication review on July 27. The rule marks the agency's first attempt to regulate an existing chemical under section 6 authority of the original 1976 TSCA since its failed attempt to restrict asbestos in 1985 - a rule that a federal appeals court struck down, hampering attempts to limit other substances with the Section 6 authority.