“EPA has moved swiftly to implement the amended TSCA requirements. Our proposed TSCA fees rule ensures we have sufficient resources to review chemicals for safety with the highest scientific standards,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Under the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, the proposed fees on chemical manufacturers, importers and processors, will provide a sustainable source of funding to defray resources that are available for implementation of new responsibilities under the amended law.
These fees to be collected from certain chemical manufacturers and importers, including processors, would go toward developing risk evaluations for existing chemicals; collecting and reviewing toxicity and exposure data and other information; reviewing Confidential Business Information (CBI); and, making determinations in a timely and transparent manner with respect to the safety of new chemicals before they enter the marketplace.
EPA has finalized three important rules under the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act and is now taking action to move the fourth to completion. EPA is working to implement the new law, the first major update to an environmental statute in 20 years, and get the most modern and safe chemicals to market quickly in order to provide regulatory certainty for manufacturers and confidence for American consumers.
This rule is the final of four framework rules under the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, incorporating input received at an August 11, 2016 public meeting. Under the proposed rule, affected businesses would begin incurring fees on October 1, 2018 and small businesses would receive an 80% discount on their fees for new chemical submissions.
The 60-day comment period will open upon the forthcoming publication of the proposed fees rule in the Federal Register.
On June 22, 2017 – the one-year anniversary of the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act – EPA met milestones for three framework TSCA rules: the Prioritization Process Rule, Risk Evaluation Process Rule, and Inventory Rule.
In addition to finalizing framework TSCA rules so the Agency can properly implement the law within the timeframes set by Congress, EPA has addressed and eliminated the backlog. The current caseload is back at the baseline level.
- The Prioritization Process Rule establishes a framework and criteria for identifying high-priority chemicals for EPA risk evaluations.
- The Risk Evaluation Process Rule establishes a framework for evaluating high priority chemicals to determine whether or not they present an unreasonable risk to health and/or the environment. The rule ensures transparency and confidence in the risk evaluation process while retaining flexibility to allow for new scientific approaches as they are developed.
- The Inventory Rule requires industry reporting of chemicals manufactured, imported, or processed in the US over the past 10 years to identify which chemical substances on the TSCA Inventory are active in US commerce. This will inform the chemicals EPA prioritizes for risk evaluations.
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New Guidance from EPA on Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act
On January 25, 2018, the EPA issued a guidance memorandum that addresses the question of when a major source subject to a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standard under CAA section 112 may be reclassified as an area source, and thereby avoid being subject thereafter to major source MACT and other requirements applicable to major sources under CAA section 112. As is explained in the memorandum, EPA’s definitions of major source in CAA section 112(a)(1) and of area source in CAA section 112(a)(2) compels the conclusion that a major source becomes an area source at such time that the source takes an enforceable limit on its potential to emit (PTE) hazardous air pollutants (HAP) below the major source thresholds (i.e., 10 tons per year (TPY) of any single HAP or 25 TPY of any combination of HAP). In such circumstances, a source that was previously classified as major, and which so limits its PTE, will no longer be subject either to the major source MACT or other major source requirements that were applicable to it as a major source under CAA section 112.
A prior EPA guidance memorandum had taken a different position. See Potential to Emit for MACT Standards--Guidance on Timing Issues, John Seitz, Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, (May 16, 1995). The May 1995 Seitz Memorandum set forth a policy, commonly known as ``once in, always in'' (OIAI policy), under which “facilities may switch to area source status at any time until the ‘first compliance date’ of the standard,'' with first compliance date being defined to mean the “first date a source must comply with an emission limitation or other substantive regulatory requirement.”
Thereafter, under the OIAI policy, “facilities that are major sources for HAP on the `first compliance date' are required to comply permanently with the MACT standard.”
The guidance signed on January 25, 2018, supersedes that which was contained in the May 1995 Seitz Memorandum. The EPA indicated that it will soon publish a Federal Register document to take comment on adding regulatory text that will reflect EPA's reading of the statute.
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