Review of the ABA Conference: "Chemicals Regulation: REACHing for TSCA Reform"

TSCA Reform, Green Chemistry:

Last week, on Friday, June 11, I attended the ABA conference: “Chemicals Regulation:  REACHing for TSCA Reform.”  In my opinion, the conference was a success.  It was well-attended by a range of stakeholders and the speakers’ topics were generally interesting.  Blake Biles did a fantastic job in his opening remarks setting the context in which TSCA was passed in 1976 and the challenges that EPA has faced implementing the statue.  All in all, I think the conference was worth the investment.

The conference provided a brief overview of the Congressional bills to modify TSCA and more detail regarding the role of states in chemicals regulation, the recent green chemistry initiatives, and some of the legal issues that go beyond regulatory compliance.  If anyone would like a copy of the agenda, which includes a biography (of sorts) of supplementary reading material, please let me know.  The suite of conference materials is probably available from the ABA.

I was a little disappointed that the speakers did not cover the mechanics of the new bills in any detail, however.  Presumably this was because they felt that it was premature to do so. In other words, they probably expect the final legislation to differ from what’s currently proposed. Based on what I’m hearing, I would generally agree with that conclusion. However, the recent convergence of chemical industry executives on Capitol Hill suggests that there may be some residual concern about the bills passing this session in something similar to their present form, so more discussion of the mechanics would have been helpful to some attendees, I’m sure.