Lawmakers Push EPA To Finish Dioxin Document

Pressure on EPA to finish its risk reassessment of dioxins ramped up last week. In a letter, 72 members of the House of Representatives asked agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to finalize and release the document swiftly. The lawmakers noted that EPA missed the deadline of Dec. 31, 2010, that Jackson set for completion of the reassessment, which will affect cleanup of waterways and other areas contaminated with dioxins, furans, or polychlorinated biphenyls. The agency’s Science Advisory Board is finalizing its review of the document, which EPA has labored on for 20 years. The advisers are expected to recommend that the agency conduct a separate risk analysis that the chemical and paper industries have sought. That analysis could lead to less extensive and cheaper dioxin cleanups for these sectors (C&EN, Nov. 15, 2010, page 30). Once the advisory review is complete, the legislators wrote, “we urge the EPA to move as quickly as possible to finalize and release the dioxin reassessment to the American public.” In response, Jeffrey T. Sloan, senior director of the American Chemistry Council, an association of chemical manufacturers, says, “The dioxin reassessment should be completed when the EPA gets the science right.”