EPA proposed in a Federal Register notice on August 15 to designate 20 chemical substances as Low-Priority Substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In a press release, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Alexandra Dunn stated, “Today’s action demonstrates EPA’s diligence in meeting its obligations under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century.”
This notice follows the list of 40 chemicals that EPA published in March of this year for initial prioritization under TSCA. In September of 2018, EPA released A Working Approach for Identifying Potential Candidate Chemicals for Prioritization which outlined methods for a pre-prioritization process, a step before the codified initial prioritization. AMWA previously submitted comments in January of 2018 to help the agency develop this process.
EPA has opened a docket for each chemical with information regarding the rationale for the designation. The public has until November 13 to provide comments. EPA must next propose to designate 20 chemical substances as high-priority, which the agency states will be available in the coming weeks. The agency must finalize both of these proposals before December 2019 – a deadline set by TSCA.