Negotiating The Details

Abstract

Bipartisan efforts to craft and pass legislation are rare on Capitol Hill these days. So are bills that would directly affect the chemical industry. Yet for the past several months, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have worked together on legislation to overhaul the 37-year-old law governing commercial chemicals. In late May, Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and David Vitter (R-La.) unveiled a compromise bill (S. 1009) to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It initially garnered broad, general support from the chemical industry, many health and environmental advocates, and several senators from both sides of the aisle ( C&EN, June 10, page 22). But criticisms of the legislation involving provisions that would preempt state laws and impact chemical lawsuits began to crop up in recent weeks after advocacy groups and states pored over the details of the 127-page bill to overhaul the nation’s chemical control law. And to ...