News Releases from Headquarters›Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)
EPA Seeks Small Businesses Input on Risk Management Rulemakings for Methylene Chloride and 1-Bromopropane
WASHINGTON (September 16, 2020) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profits to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SERs) to provide advice and recommendations to two Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panels. There will be one panel for methylene chloride and one panel for 1-bromopropane. Each will focus on the agency’s development of proposed rules to address unreasonable risks identified in EPA’s recently completed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluations for these chemicals.
Under TSCA, EPA is required to evaluate the risks associated with existing chemicals in commerce using the best available science before taking action to address any unreasonable risks. The agency issued two final risk evaluations, methylene chloride in June 2020 and 1-bromopropane in August 2020, both showing unreasonable risks to workers and consumers under certain conditions of use. EPA is now moving to the risk management step in the TSCA process by working to draft regulations to protect public health from the unreasonable risks identified in the final risk evaluations.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to establish a SBAR Panel for rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The SBAR panels will include federal representatives from the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and EPA.
SERs will be selected by the SBAR Panels to provide comments on behalf of their company, community, or organization and advise the panel on the potential impacts of the proposed rule on small entities. EPA is seeking self-nominations directly from the small entities that may be subject to the rule requirements. Other representatives, such as trade associations that exclusively or at least primarily represent potentially regulated small entities, may also serve as SERs.
SERs provide advice and recommendations to the panel. The SERs participate in consultations with the SBAR Panel via telephone, webinar, or in person in one or two meetings and are given an opportunity to submit written comments to the Panel. Self-nominations may be submitted through the link below and must be received by September 30, 2020.
In addition to engaging with small businesses, EPA is executing a robust outreach effort on risk management that includes one-on-one meetings with stakeholders and formal consultations with state and local governments, tribes, and environmental justice communities. There will also be an open public comment on any draft risk management regulations.
Nominate yourself as a Small Entity Representative to the Methylene Chloride SBAR Panel: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/reg-flex/potential-sbar-panel-methylene-chloride-risk-management-rulemaking-under-toxic-substances
Nominate yourself as a Small Entity Representative to the 1-Bromopropane SBAR Panel: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/reg-flex-potential-sbar-panel-1-bromopropane-risk-management-rulemaking-under-toxic-substances
Learn more about the Small Business Advocacy Review process.
Learn more about TSC risk managment and opportunities for stakeholder engagement.