Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Quoted by Bloomberg Law in Article “Cutting Industry Negotiation Said to Speed EPA Chemical Controls”

On June 29, 2022, Bloomberg Law quoted Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, The Acta Group (Acta^®), discussing the use of chemical consent orders to speed up the new chemical review process.

Directly issuing orders would not resolve all the delays new chemical manufacturers experience, said Richard Engler, director of chemistry for Bergeson & Campbell, PC. The EPA’s new chemicals office already has negotiated nearly 200 consent orders for new chemicals, he said.

But the manufacturers of those new chemicals can’t fully distribute them as planned, because the agency has yet to propose or issue final regulations, called significant new use rules or SNURs, that would impose the same restrictions on other chemical manufacturers that want to make the same chemical, he said.

More than two years have passed since the agency decided to allow the new chemicals to be produced without EPA issuing a conforming SNUR, Engler said. Yet TSCA requires that EPA proposing a conforming SNUR within 90 days of issuing an order.

See – https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/cutting-industry-negotiation-said-to-speed-epa-chemical-controls (subscription required)