On August 13, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the list of 20 chemical substances that it proposes to designate as low-priority substances for which risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is not warranted at this time.  EPA’s August 15, 2019, proposed rule provides a summary of the approach used by EPA to support the proposed designations, the proposed designations for each of the chemical substances, and instructions on how to access the chemical-specific information, analysis, and basis used by EPA to make the proposed designation for each chemical substance.  84 Fed. Reg. 41712.  EPA published its Approach Document for Screening Hazard Information for Low-Priority Substances Under TSCA (Approach Document), which describes the literature review process for the information used in the screening review for each proposed low-priority chemical substance.  Comments on the proposed designations and on EPA’s Approach Document are due November 13, 2019.

Commentary

As expected, EPA has formally proposed as low-priority substances the 20 substances that EPA proposed in March as potential low-priority substances.  Stakeholders will have 90 days to comment on whether EPA has met the statutory obligation to have information “sufficient to establish” that the substances do not meet the standard for high-priority substances (that the substances may present an unreasonable risk).  Comments were filed on only seven of the 20 substances initially identified as low priority, and all comments supported the designations as low priority.