The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy reviewed draft legislation on Wednesday that would facilitate interstate commerce of American-made chemicals and restore public confidence in them.
Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) drafted the Chemicals in Commerce Act after a review of the Toxic Substance Control Act indentified the need for reforms.
“Over the past year, we have participated in five hearings at which we’ve dug into TSCA, learning the issues section by section, and thinking about how we could make this law work better,” Shimkus said. “In recent weeks, we’ve had several conversations at the member level. We’ve exchanged thoughts on where we can find common ground. Those conversations have helped us understand each other’s perspectives much better. That work is continuing and, I hope, will help us as members to collaborate on a bill we can embrace going forward.”
The draft legislation would modernize TSCA, which grants the EPA authority to collect data on the manufacture, procession and use of chemicals to prevent them from posing an unreasonable risk.
Shimkus’ proposed reforms have received support from members of the automobile, technology and manufacturing industries.
“This language provides a valuable roadmap that will allow EPA to address chemical substances in specific articles when warranted and do so in a targeted manner,” Intel Director of Supply Chain Ramp and Regulations Carolyn Duran said. “Such an approach allows EPA to provide protection for human health and the environment while also providing important predictability for high tech companies and the many other U.S. industries that manufacture products that are considered ‘articles’ in the context of TSCA.”
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said the bill would help grow the manufacturing industry and create jobs.