EPA Sends New TSCA Prioritization NPRM to OMB

NOTE: Corrected title 5-24-17 10:30 EDT

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review. The NPMR implements the requirements of §6(b)(1) of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (PL 114-182; 130 Stat 461) for the establishment of a process for the prioritization of risk evaluations.

The TSCA revisions outlined in that Act were generally supported by both the chemical industry and the environmental activism community. This will be the first major set of implementing regulations and it will be interesting to see how far the support for those continues. There have already been a number of official meetings between the EPA staff and organizations representing the regulated community concerning this rulemaking. Interestingly, all of those meetings occurred during the Obama Administration.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes OIRA to approve this rulemaking. Their workload has been generally light since Trump took office (42 rulemakings submitted/13 approved), but this will certainly be a controversial rulemaking that could take some time to wade through, particularly given Trump’s attitude about regulations.