{mosads}The months-long effort so far amounts to more of an investigation of how Congress could rewrite the nearly universally panned law than a debate over an in-the-works proposal.
Still, lawmakers hoped that building piecemeal knowledge of the law would prove essential for eventual legislation.
“This is one everybody would like to do something on, hopefully something positive,” said Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the subcommittee’s chairman. “It’s kind of exciting to open up the can of worms and start pulling them out.”
The legislation gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power to limit the production or slap new safety labels on chemicals that pose an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment.
However, public safety advocates have claimed that the agency is largely unable to take action against dangerous chemicals.
For instance, the EPA spent a decade trying to act on asbestos, which has been proven to cause cancer, but was prevented by a 1991 court decision that found that the agency had gone beyond its authority.
That was a “test case to prove the efficacy of TSCA,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
Since that case, TSCA’s legal authority to act on chemicals in the market “has just not really been a regulatory option for the EPA, and that’s a problem,” sad Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).
DeGette added that she was optimistic for a “magic moment” that would allow Congress to reform the toxic chemical law this year.
Lawmakers on Wednesday also probed the intersection of state and federal authority.
Under the law, if the EPA takes action on a chemical, states and local governments cannot also impose new rules unless it meets one of four criteria.
“In many areas, the states should handle local pollution issues, because they have a wealth of experience and capability to do so,” Shimkus said. “But chemical regulation is not an area where states have traditionally taken a lead role because of the impacts on interstate commerce.”
States like New York, California and Washington, however, have been especially active with issuing their own chemical safety laws. Some have worried that an overhaul of the law would prevent states from enforcing tough new standards if they see fit to do so.
“It appears as though states have led the way on chemical regulation,” said Rep. Paul Tonko (N.Y.), the panel’s top Democrat.
In the Senate, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced legislation to reform TSCA.
Their bill, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act, has been met with cautious optimism from green and business groups. It suffered a blow when Lautenberg passed away earlier this year, but legislators have pledged to carry on with the effort in his memory.