Since the inception of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 1976, manufacturers, importers, and processors of certain high-risk chemicals have been required to submit reports to the U.S. EPA every four years. This process, called Chemical Data Reporting (CDR), can be a time-consuming task that represents a large commitment of staff resources and time for subject companies. Once submitted, the EPA must then use its own extensive resources to process the CDR reports and release the data to the public. One environmental official called this massive data dump every four years “an everything-on-everything approach.”
In a July 14, 2021 Federal Register Notice and a corresponding July 27 public webinar, the EPA signaled a possible change to a more tiered approach. The agency hopes to engage stakeholders in the development of a new reporting process. EPA has suggested prioritizing the current 8,000 - 9,000 chemicals into risk categories. For each risk category, the agency could then determine if changes should be made to:
The result of the process would be that higher-risk chemicals could have more frequent and more detailed reporting while less dangerous substances are on a more relaxed schedule.
The slides from EPA’s July 27 webinar are posted online. The Federal Register notice can be found at Docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2021-0436.
Cornerstone chemical management experts will be monitoring this rulemaking closely and provide updates to our clients on associated milestone events as they transpire.
Questions? Reach out to Cornerstone at info@corner-enviro.com.