The Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an Initial Decision assessing a $2.5m penalty against Elementis Chromium Inc (Elementis) for failure to timely submit an epidemiological study to the agency under Section 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (CW 15 November 2013). TSCA Section 8(e) requires “immediate” (ie within 30 calendar days) reporting of new substantial risk information to the agency unless it can be confirmed that it already has access to the information. Violations of Section 8(e) are subject to penalties of up to $32,500 per day and there is no time limit on when the enforcement case can be brought. In contrast, most TSCA infractions are assessed on a one-time basis and the EPA generally must bring the case within five years of the violation. The Elementis case has significant potential implications for the reporting of epidemiological studies to the agency and the overall utility of the TSCA Section 8 (e) reporting programme.
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