Public Comment Period Open for Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

Last week in the February 28 edition of the Federal Register, EPA announced the availability of the draft 1990-2009 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory.  The public can now offer comments by March 25, 2011.
The document summarizes "the latest information on U.S. anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission trends from 1990 through 2009" and are "presented by source category and sector."  The inventory contains estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emissions.

This emissions inventory is critical for understanding and developing policy options to address climate change.  According to the Executive Summary, the inventory adheres to both

1) a comprehensive and detailed set of methodologies for estimating sources and sinks of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, and

2) a common and consistent mechanism that enables Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to compare the relative contribution of different emission sources and greenhouse gases to climate change.

The full draft inventory report is available on EPA's dedicated web page, where it can be looked at by chapter online or downloaded as PDF documents.  The linked web page explains how to submit comments.

Comments will be accepted from the public up to March 25, 2011, though comments received after that date will be incorporated into the next edition.

EPA Proposes Changes to TSCA Reporting Requirements

The move to strengthen TSCA, or at least the move to more fully utilize the current authority given to EPA under TSCA, took another step this week as EPA proposed changes to the TSCA Inventory Update Rule (IUR) reporting requirements.  The changes would increase public disclosure by limiting what companies can protect as confidential, as well as increase the amount and frequency of data submitted.  The new changes would also require the submission of these data electronically.


According to EPA, "this information helps the agency determine whether chemicals may pose risks to people or the environment."

“Enhanced reporting on the production and use of chemicals will help give the American people greater access to information on the chemicals to which their children and families are exposed every day,” said Steve Owens, EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “The proposal being announced today will allow the agency to more effectively and expeditiously identify and address potential chemical risks and improve the information available to the public on chemicals most commonly used in commerce.”

Commenting on the proposed rule is open until October 25, 2010, and if finalized in time would be effective for the next IUR reporting period schedule for June 1 - September 30, 2011.

Two Ways to Reset Your Inventory - REACH vs Safe Chemicals Act

As various stakeholders hold their stakes, i.e., hold out as long as they can for their positions on either end of the political and regulatory spectrum, the discussions go on as to whether the new Safe Chemicals Act (SCA) bill is "just like REACH." One aspect that we can look at is how each of these regulations, the one already in force in Europe and the one proposed and possibly not even passing in the US, handles the problem of tens of thousands of existing chemicals grandfathered onto an Inventory.

First it was TSCA, and not having the faintest idea how to handle about 63,000 chemicals already in commerce, the law simply put them on a list and said "we'll get to them in time." Then came the Dangerous Substances Directive in Europe, and faced with the same dilemma, they created the EINECS Inventory.

And now there is REACH. To deal with the existing chemicals (and the "new" ones added since then), REACH created the "pre-registration" of chemicals. Only chemicals that companies pre-registered could be considered "existing" for purposes of gaining some phase-in time to produce the required data sets. Anything not pre-registered becomes a "new" chemical and must have the data set provided before being placed on the market (and if you were on the market already and didn't pre-register, then you're in violation and must stop production until you provide the data). When all is said and done only those chemicals with complete data sets will gain the status of "existing."

So what does the SCA do about those existing chemicals? Well, they make you provide a "declaration" that you are manufacturing or processing specific chemicals. And you have one year to do so (with updates every three years or immediately when obtaining new toxicity information). Sounds a lot like the REACH pre-registration, doesn't it? Well, almost. Under REACH you only have to provide some basic information like name and ID of the chemical, where and who you are, and how much you manufacture or import. But the SCA would go much further. Besides that information you would also have to provide all the available health and safety data on the chemical and use patterns. And you have to certify that the information is not only true, but reliable. That's a lot of work up front.

But it actually is good in a way. The data to be provided isn't going to be a full data set (as defined by EPA). It's going to be whatever you have in your file drawer and/or have readily available. There is an incentive to do this up front because then you can show that your chemical is one that shouldn't be of much concern, which means EPA won't be likely to put it on their priority list of 300 chemicals. At least not the first version. Of course, if your chemical has some special concerns then the data may cause the chemical to rise to the top of the priority list. Which is exactly what the priority list should be all about.

So what happens to the TSCA Inventory under the new Safe Chemicals Act?

As most readers probably know, the current Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has what is called an Inventory of existing chemicals. The list was created soon after TSCA was enacted to "grandfather" the chemicals already in commerce at that time (the late 1970s) onto a list. The idea was that it was simply impossible to assess them all at once for health and safety and that they could be assessed systematically over time. Meanwhile, new chemicals added to the list would undergo a new Premanufacture notice (PMN) procedure to assess their safety. In reality very few of the original 63,000 grandfathered chemicals have received substantive health and safety evaluations. And as the new Safe Chemicals Act anticipates that there will be a "minimum data set" needed for both existing and new chemicals, the fact that the old Inventory was largely made up of chemicals no longer in commerce anyway became evident.

The Lautenberg Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 takes a step towards eliminating the old Inventory and creating a new one. Section 9 of the new act (which amends Section 8 of TSCA, I know, it gets hard to follow), states that "Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, each manufacturer or processor of a chemical substance distributed in commerce shall submit to the Administrator the declaration described in paragraph (2) or (3), accompanied by the certification described in subsection (i)." The declaration noted in paragraph (2) includes information on the chemical identity and characteristics, locations of manufacturing and processing facilities, a list of health and safety studies available, and any other relevant information regarding the physicochemical and toxicological properties and annual production volumes. In essence, the section requires companies to provide information similar to a PMN for new chemicals. The companies would also be required to declare to EPA when they have ceased production.

All of this effectively sets up a new dynamic Inventory where chemicals can be removed as well as added. In the old Inventory once a chemical was on the list it stayed there and anyone could decide to start making it again in the future without any further review. This new system would require there to be the minimum data set produced for any new chemical, which would be defined as any chemical not currently on the list. Companies would be required to update their information every three years, so if no one reports a chemical as being produced after than time presumably it would be removed from the Inventory.

And since EPA would establish a rolling list of 300 chemicals for priority review, presumably from only those chemicals that make the new Inventory list, eventually all chemicals would get reviewed for health and safety. If the new Inventory list of only those chemicals that are currently in commerce is substantially less than the approximately 85,000 chemicals on the current Inventory (some industry figures suggest less than 10,000 are currently in commerce in the US), then the job becomes much more manageable.

I'll take a look at other aspects in upcoming days, including what is meant by the "minimum data set."