On June 22, President Barack Obama signed into law the first significant changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act in 40 years. California Attorney General Kamala Harris hailed the legislation as a “bold” effort to protect the public from dangerous chemicals that also respects states’ rights to set their own toxic regulations. California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Matt Rodriquez called the bill a “step in the right direction” but also raised questions about its pre-emption provisions and the funding allocated to federal regulators for their expanded role. Joshua Bloom, a principal in Meyers Nave’s environmental law practice group, recently spoke with The Recorder about the new federal legislation and what it might mean for California’s existing chemical regulations.
What are the big takeaways from this new federal legislation? I think a couple of things. It’s a real game changer. The Toxic Substances Control Act has been around for 40 some odd years. It’s always kind of taken a back seat to the more common federal environmental statutes, like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act.
