House Subcommittee Hearing on Toxic Substances Control Act

On June 13, 2013 the House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subscommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a hearing titled "Title I of the Toxic Substances Control Act: Understanding its History and Reviewing its Impact." This hearing begins the process in the House as the Senate begins debate on the bipartisan Lautenberg-Vitter Safer Chemical Improvement Act bill introduced in the Senate.

Witnesses invited to speak are:

Kathleen M. Roberts
B&C Consortia Management LLC (a legal and consulting firm)

Charles M. Auer
Charles M. Auer & Associates LLC (consulting firm; former head of EPA's chemicals group)

Alfredo Gomez
Government Accountability Office (researches and produces analysis of government programs)

Beth Bosley
Boron Specialties LLC (industry)

Jeanne Rizzo
Breast Cancer Fund (health advocacy)

Daniel Rosenberg
Natural Resources Defense Council (environmental NGO)

The hearing will take place on June 13th at 10:15 am room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. More details and the invitation-only witnesses will be posted on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee's webpage.

A background memo is available.

House Committee Will Hold Hearing on TSCA Reform

Following up on the surprise introduction of a bipartisan TSCA reform bill in the Senate, the House Energy & Commerce Committee's environment and economy subcommittee has scheduled a hearing to discuss "Title I of the Toxic Substances Control Act: Understanding its History and Reviewing its Impact." It's unclear how whether this hearing is a counter to the Lautenberg-Vitter Safer Chemical Improvement Act bill introduced in the Senate, or the beginning of support for the measure.

The Senate is controlled by Democrats, the House by Republicans. Given that the bill was developed by Senator Vitter and the chemical industry and includes significant compromise on the part of the Democrats and environmental groups as opposed to Lautenberg's previous Safe Chemical Act bills, it's likely the House action is to pave the way for some sort of TSCA reform bill to be put into law. The bill was introduced with a dozen bipartisan cosponsors as Senator Lautenberg was living what turned out to be his final days; he died on June 3rd less than two weeks after the bill was introduced.

The hearing will take place on June 13th at 10:15 am room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. More details and the invitation-only witnesses will be posted on the subcommittee's web page.