[CPEO-MEF] MUNITIONS: Special Exemptions from Toxics Law

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[It's shocking, immediately after an election in which pro- 
environment candidates did well, that the Senate seems about to pass  
a bill in which is buried a major change to a foundational  
environmental law  (TSCD) without any review by the Environment  
committee. -LS]

Thanks, but No Thanks: Bill to Carve Special Exemptions from Toxics  
Law is a Turkey

by Daniel Rosenberg
NRDC Switchboard
November 22, 2012

Like every American, I’m thankful to live in a country that has a  
reasonably well-functioning democracy – where we can vote for our  
President and representatives in Congress – where we are not subject  
to totalitarian or military rule.  Recognizing our country faces many  
problems and challenges, we are fortunate to have a political system  
where at least theoretically those problems can be resolved, and  
challenges overcome, through vigorous public discussion, debate and  
voting.

That’s at the macro level.  I’m less thankful that too often the  
process – and here I’m speaking specifically of the national  
legislative process – is (mis)used to advance poorly considered  
legislation through means that subvert the established system, which  
is based on openness, deliberation, public input, and public  
accountability.  I’ve written previously about one such example – the  
chemical industry’s efforts to derail the biennial Report on  
Carcinogens prepared by the National Institutes of Health.

Today I’m writing about an equally misguided effort – to amend the  
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to exclude from its jurisdiction  
any chemical when it is to be used in any component of firearms or  
fishing tackle.  As I described in a recent post, this effort was  
prompted by petitions -- filed by the Center for Biological Diversity  
and a large number of science and conservation organizations --  
asking the EPA to use its existing authority under TSCA to ban or  
otherwise regulate the use of lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.   
The petitions were motivated by the extensive scientific evidence of  
harm to wildlife and the environment from these widespread uses of  
lead, as well as some evidence of potential harm to human health.   
For reasons explained in the previous blog, the EPA denied those  
petitions, indicating that it had no intention of taking the actions  
requested in the petitions.  CBD and the other organizations have  
challenged those decisions in court, and the litigation is pending.   
That entire sequence -- the petition, the petition denial, and the  
legal challenge -- is fully in keeping with the process established  
by Congress under TSCA in 1976.

...

For the entire blog, see
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/drosenberg/ 
thanks_but_no_thanks_bill_to_c.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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