Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Approves Lautenberg "TSCA Reform" Bill

Despite the absence of Republican support, on July 25, 2012 in a 10-8 party-line vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847), introduced by Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) to "modernize" the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). The bill, an amended version of the bill introduced in April 2011, would shift the burden to manufacturers to demonstrate that their chemicals pose a "reasonable certainty of no harm" before they can enter or remain on the market, rather than requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to show chemicals are unsafe prior to restricting their manufacture, processing, distribution, use or disposal, as is currently the case under TSCA. The bill's path remains uncertain, however, as Republican senators walked out of a hearing one day before the Committee vote. Efforts to gain bipartisan support recently gained momentum, and Republicans contended that holding a vote at this time would only serve to undermine these efforts and fracture a promising bipartisan process. While calling for immediate TSCA reform at the hearing, EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Jim Jones, stated that EPA had not taken a position on Senator Lautenberg's bill.