INHOFE ANNOUNCES GROUNDSWELL OF SUPPORT FOR FINAL TSCA DEAL

 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today announced growing support for the final bipartisan and bicameral Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, as introduced on Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Lautenberg Act merges policy priorities from S.697, which passed on Dec. 17, 2015 in the Senate, and H.R. 2576, which passed on June 23, 2015 in the House. 

 

Below are statements in support of the bicameral, bipartisan TSCA reform:

 

“The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act is a historic opportunity for Congress to pass legislation that protects public health and the environment, while preserving America’s place as a leading innovator of transformational new products and materials. This carefully-crafted bipartisan legislation is the product of a multi-year effort to balance the interests and input of a broad array of stakeholders in order to create a strong 21st-century chemicals management system.” - Auto Alliance, American Chemistry Council, National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

 

“The Administration strongly supports the bipartisan, bicameral efforts to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) embodied in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 2576. The bill is a clear improvement over the current TSCA and represents a historic advancement for both chemical safety and environmental law.” - Executive Office of the President

“FRL-21 creates a transparent, evidence-based, cohesive national program that will improve the regulation of chemicals used in commerce, provide more certainty and confidence in the regulatory framework, and have a significant impact on each of our industries, the products we make/or the services we provide, and the millions of workers we represent.” – American Alliance for Innovation, on behalf of 139 industry groups 

 

“As with any compromise, this legislation balances the priorities and interests of multiple stakeholders, while producing an agreement that pragmatic industry, environmental, public health and labor groups can ultimately support. We strongly urge swift bipartisan passage in the House and the Senate so that the President can sign the bill into law and finally bring TSCA into the 21st Century.” -   Cal Dooley, president and CEO of American Chemistry Council (ACC), as published in The Washington Post

 

“I’ve been working on [TSCA] for 15 years. It  fixes every major problem with the current law.” -  Richard Denison, Environmental Defense Fund, as published in The Washington Post

 

“Generations of American children have grown up without any real legal protection from toxic chemicals…Congress is at last poised to adopt protections for children, pregnant women, workers and all Americans that are decades overdue.” – Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund

 

“The work of many leaders in the House and Senate has paved the way to bring chemical regulation into the 21st century. Getting to this point represents an effort spanning several years, engaging a number of Senators, Representatives, industry and nongovernmental groups who worked diligently and in good faith to develop legislation that is a genuine compromise.” - Ernie Rosenberg, president and CEO of American Cleaning Institute

 

“Our chemical safety system has been broken for nearly 40 years, thanks to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that, for decades, has exposed families to potentially harmful chemicals that went untested and unregulated. Now, as the Senate bill is conferenced with the more skeletal House version, we need to make sure that the final bill signed into law is as strong as possible.” - Mom’s Clean Air Force

 

“Reforming TSCA would not just be a boon to the economy as whole, but would also increase consumer confidence and safety, and give certainty to key American industries such as manufacturing.” – Americans for Tax Reform

 

“This bipartisan resolution represents an important step forward in the reform of TSCA, which has not been updated in nearly 40 years. During that time, our knowledge and abilities to develop, evaluate, and manage chemicals has dramatically improved. Reform of TSCA offers an opportunity to take advantage of these advanced capabilities and ensure a revised law will enable application of future scientific and technological progress and that the best science is used to protect public health and the environment.”- Society of Toxicology

  

“We applaud your efforts that strengthen federal preemption and include language addressing the TSCA burdens on byproducts sent for recycling. A single, uniform, and scientific-based standard through preemption helps our industry with interstate commerce. Also, reducing reporting burdens on recycled byproducts will help remove the disincentive created by the requirement that companies report such byproducts as new chemicals under TSCA when they are sent for recycling, but not when they are discarded.” - Dr. John Mitchell, president and CEO, IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries

 

“TSCA is a vital law that will ensure that the new chemicals and materials developed every day will not have a toxic effect on human health. We are pleased that the new agreement will bring stricter scrutiny for new chemicals and a reasonable balance for states in the review process. Chemistry is vital for our quality of life and economic growth, and reforming TSCA is essential to guaranteeing that the chemical and materials industry in the U.S. will continue to grow in a manner consistent with our human health and environment.” – Bipartisan Congressional Chemistry Caucus