Timing Of Inventory Update Challenged

A proposal by EPA to receive annual updates for its inventory of industrial chemicals has gotten mixed reactions from the industries being regulated. Although they agree that the agency needs to have better information on the production and importation of chemicals, companies do not think that reliable information can be collected for the proposed EPA deadline of September 2011. In a statement, Robert Kiefer, director of regulatory and technical affairs for the American Chemistry Council, a major industry association, said, “We believe the proposed rule can be improved by phasing in implementation of several of the reporting requirements to address concerns with timing and practicality of the proposed modifications and its resulting impact on data quality.” If adopted, EPA’s proposal to update the inventory reporting rule of the Toxic Substances Control Act would result in the first changes to the inventory since 2005. The TSCA inventory contains basic production volume, exposure, and other information on chemicals in commerce, which EPA uses to calculate preliminary risk assessments on the compounds.