On June 17th, at the request of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management & Budget removed from its list of Submissions Under Review (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=119517 ) the EPA proposed final “Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Articles Exemption Clarification Rule.”
The proposed rule would have eliminated the articles exemption under TRI and required manufacturers to report releases from finished goods in storage.
Finished goods in storage!
Here’s the rest of the story:
Last July PMPA attended a meeting in Washington D.C. with OMB and EPA over a proposed EPA “Clarification” regarding the article exemption in TRI.
We were joined at that meeting by a number of other involved parties with similar concerns. The meeting was hosted by Jeff Miller of the Treated Wood Council.
We opposed the change and challenged the EPA’s estimate of Paperwork Burden, demonstrated impact on smaller businesses, and made other technical points.
You can see our Business Intelligence on this issue here .
The EPA’s proposed change in the “clarification” could have made finished precision machined products with rust preventives subject to TRI release reporting.
At EPA’s request, this submission was removed from review.
We are pleased that our attention to this regulatory issue with other affected industries has resulted in its withdrawal at the current time. Our position was that the EPA cannot change the TRI rule without formal rulemaking. Members of Congress have echoed that same concern.
EPA may ultimately decide to initiate that rulemaking process.
We do not know exactly why EPA withdrew the proposed rule, nor do we know EPA’s next steps.
There is nothing transparent about regulation of small business in Washington D.C.
But for now, as a result of our “effective associating” and engagement with the federal agencies involved, this ill-considered change to TRI has been withdrawn.
We will continue to monitor this issue and keep you informed of any developments.
Paperwork Photo :