EDF Health

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

With last Tuesday’s passage by the Senate of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2576), a new TSCA is on its way to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

To assist everyone in understanding what the new law will do and how it compares to original TSCA, I have prepared two new documents:

• Want to see how TSCA now reads as amended by the Lautenberg Act: Here is a redline of TSCA based on the final bill.
• Here is a 10-page side-by-side of old vs. new TSCA, compared in 12 key issue areas.

And here are links to our earlier analyses of the bill:

•  a description of:  (a) how the Lautenberg Act amends the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 and (b) changes made after House and Senate bill passage to reconcile the bills;
• a description of what is and is not preempted under the Lautenberg Act; and
• Our fact sheet on the Lautenberg Act.

Enjoy!

Reproduced with permission from Daily Environment Report, 111 DEN B-1, 6/9/16, 06/09/2016. Copyright © 2016 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http:// www.bna.com

[PDF version]

CONGRESS

Now that TSCA reform has passed despite a polarized Congress, many are wondering how it came about. Richard Denison at the Environmental Defense Fund has been engaged for many years on toxics legislative reform and explores the critical junctures that opened up the opportunity to update this major environmental legislation despite multiple obstacles.   Read More »

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

Today, the truly remarkable happened:  The U.S. Senate passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act with strong bipartisan support and sent it to the President, who is expected to sign it into law.  The bill came to the Senate floor tonight by unanimous consent and passed on a voice vote.  Senate passage follows the House’s passage of the same bill by a margin of 403-12 on May 24.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.  There were many false starts and blind alleys along the way, and more twists and turns than the Steel Dragon 2000.  It took years of work by many Members and their incredibly dedicated staff to reach this accomplishment.

From the outset, it seemed that this effort would succeed only by finding a bipartisan path forward, and then working to both move and improve the bill.  For EDF, that strategy seemed essential to building both the support and the momentum needed to get a bill of this magnitude to the President’s desk and signed into law.  The late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the bill’s namesake, started us down this path:  He had the political courage to reach across the aisle and the foresight to envision getting to this moment.   Read More »

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

Well, it looks like American families will have to wait a bit longer for better protection from toxic chemicals, with today’s decision by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to place a hold on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.  Earlier this week, the House passed the legislation by a vote of 403-12, and it was due to come to Senate floor today – until Sen. Paul announced his hold.

Arguing that he needed more time to review the bill, Sen. Paul cited brand new concerns over two provisions that were already in the Senate bill when it came to the Senate floor last December by unanimous consent and passed on a voice vote with no objections.  Those provisions involve criminal penalties and state preemption.  Let’s look at each:   Read More »

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

Based on the text of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21^st Century Act posted today, I have prepared the following analyses of the bill:

• a description of:  (a) How the Lautenberg Act amends the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 and (b) changes made since House and Senate bill passage to reconcile the bills; and
• a description of what is and is not preempted under the Lautenberg Act.

I hope these analyses are useful to those interested in understanding this complex piece of legislation.

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

House and Senate negotiators have reached agreement on a final reconciled bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), our nation’s badly broken chemical safety law.  The final text of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21^st Century Act was posted today, and is set to be voted on by the full House tomorrow, with Senate consideration expected to follow later this week.

Negotiations to reconcile the two chambers’ quite different reform bills, both passed last year, reached a feverish pace in the last few weeks, leading to today’s historic breakthrough.

The result is a final bill that, while a compromise, is a substantial improvement over current law.  The bill adopts the comprehensive approach taken by the Senate bill, while sticking closer to the structure of current TSCA, as did the House bill.  Negotiators adopted the House bill’s construct of risk evaluations over the Senate’s safety assessments and determinations, while largely adopting the Senate approach to reforming TSCA’s new chemicals program, establishing a prioritization process applicable to all chemicals, and updating the inventory of chemicals active in commerce.  The bill’s chemical testing provision is more of an amalgam of the two bills and negotiators agreed to leave several sections of TSCA (e.g., exports and imports) largely untouched, as the House bill had done.

Overall, the new bill makes significant improvements to all of TSCA’s core provisions.  Read More »