Last month, the American Chemistry Council sent a letter to Jacob Lew, Director of the Office of Managmenet and Budget, calling on OMB to “take greater responsibility in the coordination and review of chemical safety assessments” and to “require EPA to submit all ongoing EPA IRIS assessments to the NAS for independent review.” The letter was the latest industry attack on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the EPA’s primary toxicological database. IRIS assessments of chemicals are used in regulatory decisions to protect the public, safety decisions by industry, and as evidence offered in litigation.
Today CPR President Rena Steinzor and Member Scholar Wendy Wagner wrote to Lew to rebut the ACC’s arguments, and to urge OMB not to take an inappropriate role in scientific assessments:
ACC’s request that OMB play a larger role in the scientific work of conducting IRIS assessments is a thinly veiled attempt to slow the IRIS process and thereby prevent EPA from promulgating rules that will directly benefit public health and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans. Not only will these requested delays create more work for any agency involved, including OMB, but this unnecessary review will significantly increase the costs of regulating by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars for each new IRIS assessment.
Steinzor and Wagner also argued that review of IRIS assessments by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) would serve to delay assessments:
Contrary to ACC’s implications, perfection in an IRIS assessment will not be achieved through recurring NAS review. The science of toxicology is inherently uncertain and reasonable scientists will have different interpretations of the available data. More research will always be possible. That is why Congress empowered EPA to act with precaution to protect the public and the environment from toxic chemicals. If EPA had to obtain two rounds of NAS review for each and every IRIS assessment, as ACC requests for the next two years, the agency would fall even further behind in promulgating required rules, which would directly result in the loss of millions of dollars and human lives.
The full letter is here.
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Ben Somberg | July 8, 2011
Last month, the American Chemistry Council sent a letter to Jacob Lew, Director of the Office of Managmenet and Budget, calling on OMB to “take greater responsibility in the coordination and review of chemical safety assessments” and to “require EPA to submit all ongoing EPA IRIS assessments to the NAS for independent review.” The letter […]
Lena Pons | July 7, 2011
The Administration has been busy promoting President Obama’s new approach to regulatory review, which required federal regulatory agencies to produce plans for how they would review existing regulations and look for regulations to cut. But while the mad dash to find regulations the administration can trot out as misguided or outdated continued, the agencies were delayed […]
Sandra Zellmer | July 6, 2011
This post was written by CPR Member Scholar Sandra Zellmer and John H. Davidson, an emeritus professor of law at the University of South Dakota. It appeared first in the Omaha World-Herald. As the Missouri River nears the 500-year flood mark, we sympathize with those whose homes and businesses are flooded. And we recognize that […]
Shana Campbell Jones | July 5, 2011
Let’s go on a road trip. Whether it’s the beach or the mountains, we all know what going on a road trip means: great memories, possible adventure, time to mosey around the country we love. The Chamber of Commerce is also planning a road trip this summer, headed by former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Andrew Card, George […]
Amy Sinden | June 30, 2011
Upon reading the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ (OIRA) latest annual Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Federal Regulations, one can be forgiven for wondering momentarily whether the 2008 election was just a dream and whether we’re still in the midst of a Republican administration. OIRA is telling us that […]
Rena Steinzor | June 28, 2011
Cross-posted from ACSblog. A series of catastrophic regulatory failures in recent years has focused attention on the weakened condition of regulatory agencies assigned to protect public health, worker and consumer safety, and the environment. The failures are the product of a destructive convergence of funding shortfalls, political attacks, and outmoded legal authority, setting the stage […]
Sidney A. Shapiro | June 24, 2011
On Wednesday, former senator Evan Bayh joined former George W. Bush Chief of Staff Andy Card at the Chamber of Commerce to formally announce their plans to tour around the country campaigning against regulations. The pair have already jumped into a series of falsehoods, endorsing, for example, the discredited SBA-sponsored study claiming regulations cost $1.75 […]
Catherine O'Neill | June 24, 2011
The EPA has developed an inexplicable penchant for making decisions that please no one. So, it should come as no surprise that its announcement today regarding the ongoing, will-they-won’t-they Boiler MACT saga falls into this category too. The agency traded in the indefinite delay it gave itself last month to “reconsider” the final Boiler MACT standards it […]
Sidney A. Shapiro | June 22, 2011
Fact: It often takes agencies up to 10 years (in some cases even longer) to develop and issue critical regulations needed to protect people and the environment. These delays may save corporations money, but they impose real and preventable costs in terms of lives lost, money wasted, and ecosystems destroyed. The reasons for this delay are not […]