Boxer: House bill is best option for chemical reform

With a few additional changes, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said legislation that passed the House last month is the best approach to reforming the nation’s toxic chemical laws.

A coalition of public health and environmental groups led by Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-N.V.) on Tuesday asking the Senate to take up the TSCA Modernization Act that passed the House by a 398-1 vote last month.

“I agree with the coalition that the House bill ‘is clearer and more concise and would be more appropriate to use as the vehicle for changes as the process moves forward,’” Boxer said in a statement quoting the group’s letter. 

In the Senate there’s a bill backed by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter’s (R-La) that’s expected to make it to the floor for a vote this summer. Like the House bill, it aims to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, known as TSCA.

Boxer, a staunch opponent of that legislation, introduced her own competing bill. But since she’s been unable to garner much support, she’s voicing support for the House legislation if changes are made.

In their letter, the coalition of health and environmental groups asked for changes that ensure clauses that grandfather in state laws and actions work the way the authors inteded them to, and ensure the Environmental Protection Agency can adequately address chemical threats with reasonable remedies.