More questions than answers: EDF submits extensive questions to EPA in advance of public meeting on new chemical reviews
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
Environmental Defense Fund yesterday submitted questions to EPA that we hope are answered by the agency at the public meeting it is convening on December 6th on changes to its new chemicals reviews.
Despite providing some new documents in advance of the public meeting, details about EPA’s new policies and practices for reviewing new chemicals under the reforms made to TSCA by the Lautenberg Act remain scant. We identified a number of serious concerns when these changes were first announced by Administrator Pruitt in a news release issued on August 7 – concerns that the meeting background materials EPA has provided only serve to heighten.
The questions we submitted today relate to our concerns in the following topics:
- The statutory and scientific basis for EPA’s new policies, the timing of their application, and omissions from the new framework
- EPA’s plan to use so-called “non-5(e) SNURs” in lieu of consent orders
- Recent policy changes not included in EPA’s agenda for the public meeting
- Public access to information
- Confidential business information claims
- Use of section 5(e) SNURs
EDF has been raising concerns for some time now over the recent redirection of the new chemicals program starkly away from the approach taken following last year’s enactment of the Lautenberg Act.
Many of the questions we’ve just submitted were formally submitted by letter to EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) more than 3 months ago, on August 16, 2017. Unfortunately, we have yet to receive responses to them. We hope they will be addressed at the December 6th meeting.
