A tale of two public comment extension requests: How they fared under the Trump EPA

Richard Denison, Ph.D.is a Lead Senior Scientist.

In recent weeks EPA has issued for public comment significant modifications to its draft risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act for two chemicals:  Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) and 1,4-dioxane.  Because EPA initially provided relatively brief comment periods on the modifications, both were subject to requests for extensions of the comment period.

The table below tells the story of how these two requests fared under the Trump EPA. 

Chemical PV29 1,4-Dioxane
Initial comment period 30 days 20 days
Requestor Chemical industry State/local water agencies; environmental NGOs
Granted or denied Granted Denied
# of days before end of comment period decision was made 12 days 1 day
Length of extension
(if any)
20 days 0 days
Total comment period after extension (if any) 50 days 20 days
Means of communicating the decision used by EPA Email to listserv; press release; posted on website Individual phone calls to requestors; no written communication
Main direction of findings in draft document open for comment Found unreasonable risk Did not find unreasonable risk

 

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