Tsca Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I do rise in support of the amendments to H.R. 2576, and I congratulate Chairman Shimkus on the wonderful job he has done.

Mr. Chairman, it is my understanding that this bill reemphasizes Congress' intent to avoid duplicative regulation through the TSCA law. It does so by carrying over two important EPA constraints in section 9 of the existing law while adding a new, important provision that would be found as new section, 9(b)(2).

It is my understanding that, as a unified whole, this language, old and new, limits the EPA's ability to promulgate a rule under section 6 of TSCA to restrict or eliminate the use of a chemical when the Agency either already regulates that chemical through a different statute under its own control and that authority sufficiently protects against a risk of injury to human health or the environment, or a different agency already regulates that chemical in a manner that also sufficiently protects against the risk identified by EPA.

Would the chairman please confirm my understanding of section 9?

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

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Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the chairman. The changes you have worked hard to preserve in this negotiated bill are important. As the EPA's early-stage efforts to regulate methylene chloride and TCE under TSCA statute section 6 illustrate, they are also timely.

EPA simply has to account for why a new regulation for methylene chloride and TCE under TSCA is necessary since its own existing regulatory framework already appropriately addresses risk to human health. New section 9(b)(2) will force the Agency to do just that.

I thank the chairman for his good work.

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