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On April 29, 2013, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled Toxic Substances: EPA Has Increased Efforts to Assess and Control Chemicals but Could Strengthen Its Approach, which provides the results of a performance audit conducted by GAO from December 2011 to March 2013. GAO reviewed the extent to which: (1) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made progress implementing its new approach for managing toxic chemicals with the goal of...
As reported in our April 11, 2013, memorandum, on April 10, 2013, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013 (S. 696) (SCA 2013), which would reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Senator Lautenberg's press release noted that the bill is identical to the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847) (SCA 2011), which was reported favorably out of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on a party-line vote in the 112th Congress on July 25,...
The European Commission (EC) published Regulation 348/2013 on April 17, 2013, that adds eight substances to Annex XIV of EU Regulation 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), commonly referred to as the Authorization List. The notice can be found online. The substances are: Chemical NameCAS NumberEC NumberLast Application DateSunset...
In a decision with enormous implications for pesticide registrants, on April 22, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a complaint in Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. EPA, a case often referred to as the "Mega-ESA" case. In this suit, the plaintiffs asserted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) improperly failed to initiate or to reinitiate consultation under Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7(a)(2) for 382...
On April 18, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for eight chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN) P-11-327, P-11-328, P-11-329, P-11-330, P-11-331, P-11-332, P-12-298, and P-12-299, the first six of which are renewable, biobased chemical substances manufactured by KiOR, Inc. This memorandum explains why the proposed SNURs for the biobased chemical...
On April 17, 2013, the United Kingdom's (UK) Department for Business, Innovation and Skills launched a public consultation on the implementation of the recast Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. The consultation focuses on how the government should amend the existing WEEE regulations to ensure compliance with the recast WEEE Directive published on July 24, 2012, and on how to respond to concerns from UK producers of electrical and electronic equipment under the...
In its April 30, 2012, publication, FY 2013 Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) National Program Manager (NPM) Guidance, OECA discusses its enforcement objectives and program priorities for fiscal year (FY) 2013. In discussing notable changes for FY 2013 from FY 2012, OECA lists budget challenges and states that it must cut resources in certain areas: "Anticipating tight budgets in FY 2013 and beyond, EPA's enforcement program needs to focus its limited resources...
On April 10, 2013, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released what many believe to be the last revisions to the proposed Safer Consumer Products Regulations (Revised Proposed Regulations). The Revised Proposed Regulations are subject to a 15-day comment period, ending April 25, 2013. Memoranda providing background information are available online. The Revised Proposed Regulations are available online. In summary, DTSC has not made many...
On April 10, 2013, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) reintroduced the Safe Chemicals Act (S. 696), which would reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and is identical to legislation (S. 847) reported favorably out of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on a party-line vote in the 112th Congress. In his April 10, 2013, press release, Senator Lautenberg states that, compared to earlier versions of the legislation, the Safe Chemicals Act of 2013 "includes a number of...
On March 27, 2013, as part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will begin assessments on 23 chemicals, with a specific focus on flame retardant chemicals. According to EPA's press release, EPA will evaluate 20 flame retardant chemicals, conducting full risk assessments for four of the flame retardants, three of which are on the TSCA Work Plan, and one of which was the subject of an Action Plan. In addition to the...