Memoranda

On Thursday, July 29, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. (EDT), the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection held a legislative hearing on H.R. 5820, the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (TCSA). Witnesses at the hearing were (in order of testimony): Steve Owens, Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);  Richard Denison, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund;  Calvin M. Dooley, President and...

On July 22, 2010, Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL), Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, and Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (H.R. 5820) (TCSA), which is intended to strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). On July 27, 2010, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce issued a briefing memo announcing a Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection...

Last evening, Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL), Chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection, and Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010 (H.R. 5820) (TCSA), which is intended to strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The bill is different in key respects from the House Discussion Draft circulated by Representatives Rush and Waxman on April 15, 2010 -- better in some instances and...

On July 16, 2010, a three judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a unanimous decision in Reckitt Benckiser v. EPA (No. 09-1314), finding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) May 28, 2008, threat to implement its final risk mitigation decision for ten rodenticides (RMD) by enforcement actions for "misbranding" is "sufficiently final agency action ripe for review." The court states that the U.S. District Court for...

In the July 13, 2010, Federal Register, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides guidance on various reporting options that states and local agencies may choose in implementing Sections 311 and 312 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA). In addition, EPA also provides some new interpretations and revises some existing ones "to help facilities comply with certain of the requirements under EPCRA." The effective date of the guidance...

On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a public hearing on the draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Pesticides General Permit (PGP). This hearing, along with three previous public meetings, was held during the 45-day public comment period (through July 19, 2010) on the draft PGP for point source discharges from the application of pesticides to waters of the U.S. EPA proposed the PGP in response to the 2009 decision by the Sixth...

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On June 23, 2010, Health Canada issued final regulations to set forth new "rules on how the scientific data used to support a pesticide registration is protected from reliance by another applicant or registrant." The regulations are available online. Health Canada states: "These Regulations are designed to provide a legally enforceable and fair process of pesticide data protection. They are intended to benefit pesticide users, particularly in the agricultural sector, by encouraging the...

Taiwan's Council of Labor Affairs of the Executive Yuan (CLA) has developed and released operational guidelines for nominating existing chemical substances for listing on a national Inventory. Through creation of a national Inventory, Taiwan intends to strengthen its control over the manufacture, import, and use of chemicals in Taiwan, thus improving its national chemical management. It is a preparatory process for establishing the National Existing Chemical Substance Inventory. Once completed,...

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) released on June 23, 2010, the draft regulations for safer consumer product alternatives. CDTSC states that the draft regulations "would prioritize toxic chemicals and products, require manufacturers to seek safer alternatives to toxic chemicals in their products, and create tough governmental responses for lack of compliance." Under the draft regulations, CDTSC would create a list of chemicals that it deems toxic and believes could...