{"id":2783,"date":"2013-09-10T10:41:37","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T15:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=2783"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:01:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:01:31","slug":"ngos-ask-senators-to-investigate-chronic-delays-in-ombs-review-of-tsca-regulatory-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2013\/09\/10\/ngos-ask-senators-to-investigate-chronic-delays-in-ombs-review-of-tsca-regulatory-actions\/","title":{"rendered":"NGOs ask Senators to investigate chronic delays in OMB\u2019s review of TSCA regulatory actions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Rachel Shaffer<\/em> is a research assistant.\u00a0 <em>Richard Denison, Ph.D.<\/em><em>,<\/em> is a Senior Scientist.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Last Friday afternoon, we received the discouraging news that EPA has withdrawn two draft rules it had developed under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority.\u00a0 As discussed in our earlier <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2013\/09\/06\/stymied-at-every-turn-epa-withdraws-two-draft-tsca-proposals-in-the-face-of-endless-delay-at-omb\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">blog post<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">, <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\">these proposed rules had been kept in limbo by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for 1,213 and 619 days, respectively \u2013 far longer than the 90-day limit for such reviews set by <\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reginfo.gov\/public\/jsp\/Utilities\/EO_12866.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Executive Order 12866<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Unfortunately, these delays are anything but unique.\u00a0 OIRA\u2019s reviews of draft rules and other actions now routinely exceed by large margins their mandated deadlines.\u00a0 Our examination of EPA\u2019s TSCA regulatory agenda over the past several years reveals just how extensive OIRA\u2019s \u201crulemaking purgatory\u201d has become. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Since 2009, a total of 33 TSCA-related notices or proposed or final regulatory actions have been submitted to OIRA: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">Eighteen submissions were proposed or final rules subject to a 90-calendar-day deadline. \u00a0Reviews of <strong>only six<\/strong> of these rules were completed within this deadline; on average, they have been held at OIRA for <strong>over 300 days.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">The other 15 were advance notices of proposed rulemakings or other notices subject to a 10-working-day deadline.\u00a0 Of these notices, <strong>only one<\/strong> was completed within this deadline; on average, they were kept under review by OIRA for <strong>over 70 working days<\/strong><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\">. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Today, EDF, <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Earthjustice<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Union of Concerned Scientists<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">, and <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">League of Conservation Voters<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> sent a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2013\/09\/EDF-Earthjustice-UCS-LCV-letter-to-Blumenthal-Hatch-on-Regulatory-Review_final.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">letter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> documenting these delays and expressing our serious concerns to Senator <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blumenthal.senate.gov\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Richard Blumenthal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> (D-CT) and Senator <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hatch.senate.gov\/public\/index.cfm\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Orrin Hatch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\"> (R-UT), Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Senate Judiciary Committee\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/about\/subcommittees\/oversight.cfm\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Subcommittee on Oversight, Federal Rights, and Agency Action<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">. \u00a0Our letter emphasized that such delays both prevent the public from providing input in the rulemaking process and limit EPA\u2019s already constrained ability to obtain and share basic safety information on chemicals under TSCA.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Our letter was sent in response to an August 1, 2013, hearing held by that subcommittee, titled <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/hearings\/hearing.cfm?id=46c0474f3ba43037db5917ce8f963f2b\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Justice Delayed: The Human Cost of Regulatory Paralysis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">, which began a much-needed discussion of the real-world impact of OIRA\u2019s protracted review of proposed regulations. \u00a0We urged a further investigation into the causes and consequences of this too-hidden obstruction of the long-established rulemaking process.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">You can read our letter <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/11\/files\/2013\/09\/EDF-Earthjustice-UCS-LCV-letter-to-Blumenthal-Hatch-on-Regulatory-Review_final.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">, and stay tuned for updates in the coming months. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rachel Shaffer is a research assistant.\u00a0 Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist. Last Friday afternoon, we received the discouraging news that EPA has withdrawn two draft rules it had developed under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority.\u00a0 As discussed in our earlier blog post, these proposed rules had been kept in limbo by &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11089,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56096],"tags":[39172,39178,39154],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-omboira","tag-office-of-management-and-budget-omb","tag-significant-new-use-rule-snur","tag-test-rule"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11089"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12687,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions\/12687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}