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During its spring meeting in April, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) adopted several resolutions. ECOS is the national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders. The resolutions ECOS adopted are: Resolution 04-3: Small Community Challenges: This resolution requests that the federal government work with state and local governments to address current and future small community drinking water and wastewater requirements...
On April 27, 2017, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would transition the U.S to 100 percent clean energy by the year 2050. The bill is the first introduced in Congress that fully envisions a transition off of fossil fuels for the U.S. The 100 By ’50 Act (S. 967) bill has seven core components: Greening the Grid -- Phase-out fossil fuel electricity...
April 28, 2017
Dr. Richard E. Engler Makes Presentation Regarding TSCA Reform to the Chemical Society of Washington
On April 27, 2017, Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Senior Chemist at Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), presented “Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and TSCA Reform” at the Chemical Society of Washington’s monthly dinner meeting. Dr. Engler discussed TSCA before and after reform by The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg) and challenges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry face in implementing and complying with...
April 26, 2017
Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report Quotes Richard Engler In “No Insights in EPA Notices on 19 New Chemicals on Market”
On April 25, 2017, Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report included comments by Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Senior Chemist at the Acta Group (Acta®), commenting on the 19 new chemicals that have been given market approval by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) between December 1, 2016, and February 28, 2017. […] The EPA has notified the manufacturers that asked to make the new chemicals of the approvals and announced the decisions on its public website,...
April 26, 2017
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP): Take Advantage of This Regulatory Reform Advocacy Opportunity
On February 24, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda.” Issuance of the EO, and the subsequent measures undertaken by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt offer unique opportunities for chemical stakeholders. This memorandum summarizes EPA’s efforts to date in this regard, and identifies opportunities that stakeholders may wish to pursue to eliminate or amend regulatory...
On April 19, 2017, Inside EPA quoted a post from the TSCA Blog in the article “Suit Over EPA's Rejection Of Fluoride Ban Claims TSCA Misinterpretation.” “This asserted view, that only a comprehensive risk evaluation considering all conditions of use will suffice, presents a very high threshold for action -- and seemingly an impossibly high threshold to move EPA to act," officials with the law firm Bergeson & Campbell said in a March 7 blog post. […]...
April 14, 2017
Federal Court Invalidates Air Reporting Exemption For Large-Scale Livestock Operations
On April 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a decision vacating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule exempting livestock feeding operations from air reporting requirements under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). Large-scale animal feeding operations that confine, for example, more than 1,000 cattle, 2,500 hogs, or...
A trio of recent internal U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memoranda are providing insight into how EPA intends to implement President Trump’s review and potential pogrom of EPA regulations. Virtually no program or regulation appears to be secure from the chopping block. Many stakeholders in industry and other sectors may be alarmed to see programs that are of benefit to them assigned a slot in the guillotine. Supporters of these programs, thus, would be wise to educate senior EPA...
On April 6, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published three waivers to the now final Sanitary Transportation rule mandated by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) for businesses whose transportation operations are subject to separate state-federal controls in the Federal Register. 82 Fed. Reg. 16733. The waivers include: Businesses holding valid permits that are inspected under the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments’ Grade “A” Milk Safety Program,...
The Acta Group (Acta®), a global scientific and business consulting firm offering a full range of support services for the process of obtaining approvals to market industrial chemicals, biocides, and chemical products, with offices in Washington, D.C., Beijing, China, and Manchester, UK, has been named winner of the Chemicals Northwest 2017 “Supply Chains Award.” Chemicals Northwest Awards are presented in ten categories, all of which recognize excellence in the chemical and chemical...