How Weaker EPA Chemical Regulations Could Compromise Your Safety

The Houston area economy relies on the chemical and refining industries for much of its both. But with the burgeoning trade and manufacturing activity in toxic substances, our Houston chemical injury lawyers note that safety for both workers and community residents is of paramount concern. An astonishing density and variety of these industries exists around Houston and along the Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi River.

The two greatest concentrations of industries involving volatile chemicals and toxic substances are in the Houston area and along Louisiana’s Mississippi River corridor. For example, in 2012 the Louisiana Chemical Association reported that 311 chemical manufacturers employing 15,727 dotted the Mississippi River corridor from Baton Rouge down to the Gulf. And that number excluded oil refineries and some plastics makers.

Yet with all this industrial activity throughout the region, the Houston chemical injury lawyers at Denena Points, PC emphasize laws governing the handling of toxic chemicals are old and rarely used for enforcement. Safety advocates agree that the nation’s Toxics Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation’s primary chemical safety law adopted in 1976, is outdated and toothless. But the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is dragging its feet on endorsing a more updated proposal, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA), introduced this past April.

Just this month, the U.S. EPA’s Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety, James Jones, testified regarding the CSIA before the House Subcommittee on the Environment and the Economy. While our Houston chemical injury lawyers point out that his testimony served to underscore the weakness and flaws in the old TSCA, he seemed reluctant to embrace reforms, and declined to offer a formal position for the EPA on the CSIA. He chose instead to refer the House Subcommittee to the EPA’s Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation and urged caution in considering the new proposal. Go to Part 2 for a look at a comparison between the EPA’s Essential Principles, the CSIA, and the TSCA and what that means for chemical safety and your protection from dangerous toxic hazards.