Rarely do both sides of the legislative aisle in Washington join
in overwhelming approval to expand the authority of the
Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA"). Recently,
the House of Representatives and Senate did just that, and
President Obama joined them on June 22, 2016, by signing into law
the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act
("TSCA Reform Act") to update the Toxic Substances
Control Act ("TSCA").
In 1976, Congress enacted the TSCA to regulate toxic and
chemical substances to prevent "unreasonable risk of injury to
health or the environment." Unlike other
environmental laws, the TSCA focused on pollution prevention
through regulation of products rather than by regulation of the
disposal of wastes. The idea behind the TSCA was to reduce
and prevent unreasonable risks to human health by making industry
develop data on the environmental effects of chemicals produced,
but without stymieing technological innovation or
