News Releases from Headquarters

EPA Marks Chemical Safety Milestone on 1st Anniversary of Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act

Agency Meeting Statutory Responsibilities and Deadlines

WASHINGTON – (June 22, 2017) Today, on the one-year anniversary of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that EPA has met its first-year statutory responsibilities under the law. This includes issuing three new rules, providing a guidance document for external parties, and releasing the scoping documents for the first 10 risk evaluations that will be conducted.

“The activities we are announcing today demonstrate this Administration’s commitment to providing regulatory certainty to American businesses, while protecting human health and the environment,” said Administrator Pruitt. “The new process for evaluating existing chemicals outlined in these rules will increase public confidence in chemical safety without stifling innovation.”

The Act amends the nation’s primary chemicals management law known as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The legislation received bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, and provides significant new responsibilities and authorities to EPA to advance chemical safety. 

EPA has completed the following implementation activities at this one-year anniversary:
Finalized a rule to establish EPA’s process and criteria for identifying high priority chemicals for risk evaluation and low priority chemicals for which risk evaluation is not needed. In response to public comments, this final rule affirms EPA’s commitment to following the best available science, engaging stakeholders in the prioritization process, and recognizing the value of designating chemicals as low priority when appropriate. Read more: http://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/prioritizing-existing-chemicals-risk-evaluation

• Finalized a rule to establish EPA’s process for evaluating high priority chemicals to determine whether or not they present an unreasonable risk to health or the environment. In response to public comments, this final rule clearly defines important scientific terms to ensure transparency and confidence in the risk evaluation process while retaining flexibility to allow for new scientific approaches to be incorporated as they are developed. Additionally, the final rule clarifies EPA’s authority to determine what uses of a chemical are appropriate for risk evaluation, ensuring that the Agency’s resources are focused on those uses that may pose the greatest risk. Read more: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/risk-evaluations-chemicals-under-tsca
• Finalized a rule to require industry reporting of chemicals manufactured or processed in the U.S. over the past 10 years. This reporting will be used to identify which chemical substances on the TSCA Inventory are active in U.S. commerce and will help inform the chemicals EPA prioritizes for risk evaluation. In response to public comments, EPA streamlined the reporting requirements for manufacturers and processors in the final rule to help reduce regulatory burden. Read more: https://www.epa.gov/tsca-inventory/tsca-inventory-notification-active-inactive-rule
• Released scope documents for the initial ten chemicals for risk evaluation under the amended law.  These documents identify what uses of the chemicals will be evaluated and how the evaluation will be conducted. Read more: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/risk-evaluations-chemicals-under-tsca#ten
• Released guidance for external parties interested in submitting draft risk evaluations to the EPA for consideration. Read more: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/guidance-assist-interested-persons-developing-and

This past year has been marked by many EPA accomplishments to implement the amended law. More information on EPA’s progress to date and a full list of all the TSCA implementation activities can be found here: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/frank-r-lautenberg-chemical-safety-21st-century-act-5