Political Quotes

“I know that everyone here shares a desire to fix our chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and I appreciate the years of hard work that my colleagues, starting with the late Senator from New Jersey, Frank Lautenberg, put in to try to make this bill the best bipartisan compromise it could be. So many parts of this bill strengthen the standards and review process for chemicals, and I am pleased that we will finally be able to effectively regulate chemicals on a Federal level. However, there is one part of the bill that still concerns me: the preemption of State laws. Right now, a number of States, including New York, have taken the lead in chemical safety and have set standards for their own citizens that are higher than the standards set by the EPA. These State actions have brought the chemical companies to the table to finally create a strong federal system for reviewing chemicals for safety. But this bill would significantly limit the rights of individual States to set their own chemical safety standards from this day forward. It would prevent a State from regulating or enforcing regulations on a chemical if the EPA is studying but has not yet ruled on the safety of that chemical. But the EPA's review process can take far longer than a State's review process.…”