Senators celebrate victory with chemical safety reform

A bipartisan group of senators celebrated victory Friday, after years of negotiations over a major chemical safety bill that passed the Senate Thursday night.

The senators, led by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) said their efforts, including multiple actions to amend the bill throughout 2015, are a testament to the high stakes of chemical safety and the ability of lawmakers to compromise and work together respectfully.

{mosads}The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, named after the late New Jersey Democratic senator who led the effort before his 2013 death, make major changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976.

It gives the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) new authority and funding to study and regulate toxic substances like asbestos, while adding protections for the industry against state regulations.

“This is an historic moment. What we did was a momentous occasion,” Udall said at a news conference. “After years and years of negotiations and collaboration, after working with stakeholders across the country, we made tremendous progress toward bipartisan environmental reform on TSCA.”

“I think it is a very, very strong product,” said Vitter, who had partnered with Lautenberg on the legislation before the former New Jersey senator’s death.

“It updates environmental standards in this part of the law, it updates EPA’s authority in a proper way, but it also focuses EPA on the chemicals it needs to focus on, demands complete transparency and use of sound science and has a national program so that American industry can remain innovators and don’t get burdened by 51 rulebooks from states all around the country,” he said. “It strikes an appropriate balance between states’ role and EPA’s leading role.”

The bill came years after lawmakers and health advocates had started to sound alarms over the inability of the EPA to effectively keep toxic substances out of commerce.

Asbestos, frequently the poster child for the failures, is not banned but is known to cause respiratory illnesses if inhaled.

“It’s a statute right now that simply doesn’t work, because ever since the industry successfully challenged EPA’s asbestos ban, EPA’s authority to regulate dangerous chemicals has been broken,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said it’s important to keep in mind how much the legislation will help the chemical industry, which will create jobs.

“I think one thing people forget about is the value this has in terms of jobs,” he said.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was consistently the strongest force against the bill through the legislative process this year.

She blocked quick Senate consideration of it earlier this week, but dropped her objection when her colleagues assured her that she’d be part of the House-Senate negotiations toward a final law.

Udall and Vitter said the next step for the bill will be to formally negotiate with the House on how to square the Lautenberg bill with the House’s own chemical reform bill that it passed earlier this year.

Udall said that shouldn’t be too difficult.

“I don’t think there are a lot of differences, because the House bill is a narrower bill and ours is much broader and deals with areas that the House didn’t really deal with,” he said. “We have a very good relationship with the House members that are key on this.”

The senators said they plan to start negotiations during the Christmas break that will start later Friday, and they hope to have a final product ready for votes in both chambers early next year.