David Fischer Authors Environmental Forum Article on Amending TSCA

Keller and Heckman Counsel David Fischer’s article “Inevitably, We Need to Amend the Law Again” was published in the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI) Environmental Forum. The article, which appears in a TSCA Debate feature in the Environmental Forum’s September/October 2024 issue, discusses the Toxic Substances Control Act’s (TSCA) “troubles and tribulations.” David argues that each passing year since the Lautenberg amendments to TSCA in 2016 brings “further confirmation that the optimistic 2016 amendments have not been realized.” He adds that “the problem with the new law’s implementation has less to do with money and a lot more to do with the amended TSCA itself. And we cannot look to legislative history to help.”

David provides examples of the current TSCA’s shortcomings, including not specifically defining the “critically important statutory standard of unreasonable risk to health or the environment.”

“So, what do we do?” David asks. “We will need to change the statute again, but this time with the practical knowledge of eight long years of what worked and did not work in implementing amended TSCA,” he concludes.

To read the full article, please click here.