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 |
