Yesterday, after five months of work, the federal advisory committee created to negotiate a rule that would limit the reporting requirements for byproducts sent for recycling decided to end our work because consensus could not be reached.
IPC was represented by myself and Bret Bruhn, environmental engineer, TTM Technologies and Chair of the IPC Environmental, Health and Safety Committee. We very much appreciated EPA’s thoughtful participation and contributions to the process, and were disappointed that the committee was unable to reach a consensus that would have encouraged recycling. IPC and other industry representatives participated in good faith, offering several meaningful proposals that would have allowed EPA to meet its obligations under TSCA.
The federal advisory committee was formed to implement a requirement in the 2016 Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA) that EPA conduct a negotiated rulemaking on limiting reporting requirements for inorganic byproducts sent for recycling. We strongly supported the goal of the negotiated rulemaking, having worked for years to limit requirements that discourage the recycling of inorganic byproducts by requiring duplicative reporting under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
We believe that EPA continues to have an obligation under the LCSA to initiate a rulemaking to encourage recycling of byproducts. We will be meeting next week with Congress regarding the LCSA requirements as well as exploring other avenues to encourage EPA to follow through on this important obligation.
Filed under: Environment, Health and Safety, IPC, Regulations Tagged: Congress, EPA, federal advisory committee, inorganic byproductgs sent for recycling, LSCA, reporting requirements for byproduct recycling, TSCA negotiated rulemaking
