EPA Proposed Rule Would Add Chemicals to TRI
On April 6, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed rule to add 16 chemicals to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list of reportable chemicals1. (EPA's proposed additions to the TRI would be the first in over ten years.)
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) requires EPA to annually collect data on releases and transfers of certain toxic chemicals from industrial facilities and make that information available to the public in the TRI. Facilities that manufacture (including import), process, or otherwise use a toxic chemical listed in the TRI in excess of applicable thresholds are required to report certain information to EPA each year.
Comments on the proposed rule are due June 7, 2010. Highlights include the following:
All 16 Proposed Chemical Additions are Carcinogens
The 16 chemicals that EPA is proposing to add have been classified as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) in their Report on Carcinogens (RoC) document.
Four Chemicals Proposed for Addition are PBTs
Four of the 16 chemicals EPA is proposing to add to the TRI would be added to the polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) category. The PACs category is a category of special concern, because PACs are persistent, bioaccumulative, toxic (PBT) chemicals. The four proposed for addition to the PACs categories are:
12 Other Chemicals Proposed for Addition
The12 other chemicals that EPA is proposing to add to the TRI include:
(As in past chemical reviews, EPA adopted a production volume screen for the development of this proposed rule to screen out those chemicals for which no reports are expected to be submitted. Based on a review of the available production and use information, EPA believes these sixteen chemicals are expected to be manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in quantities that would exceed the EPCRA section 313 reporting thresholds.)
1The TRI is a publicly available database of nearly 650 chemicals and chemical groups from approximately 22,000 industrial facilities in the U.S. It was established as part of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) of 1986.
EPA contact - Daniel Bushman (202) 566-0677 or bushman.daniel@epa.gov.
EPA proposed rule (FR Pub 04/06/10) available at http://www.epa.gov/tri/lawsandregs/ntp_chemicals/NTPchemicals_proposed%20Rule04062010.pdf.
EPA press release on proposed additions to TRI dated 04/06/10 available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/f6a45e8e44dbef13852576fd005f7555!OpenDocument.
Additional information on EPA's TRI program available at http://www.epa.gov/tri/triprogram/whatis.htm.