NAM to Congress: Here’s How to Improve the TSCA
The Environmental Protection Agency must be able to carry out the Toxic Substances Control Act “in a manner that is timely, predictable and grounded in real-world risk analysis and mitigation”—and that’s why the NAM supports proposed changes to the agency’s chemical review processes under the legislation, it said this week.
What’s going on: “For manufacturers, chemical management is a practical safety issue,” the NAM told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ahead of a Wednesday hearing to examine a discussion draft of the TSCA Fee Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2026.
- “Decisions made under TSCA directly affect workers in facilities, consumers and communities where manufacturing operations occur. TSCA implementation should therefore provide clear, actionable information and regulatory certainty so that downstream manufacturers can make informed decisions, invest in innovation and strengthen safety throughout the supply chain.”
Why it’s important: Unfortunately, in the past decade, TSCA implementation “has often led to delays and uncertainty,” the NAM continued.
- This, paired with the coming expiration of EPA fee-collecting authority to offset the cost of the TSCA program, “pose[s] serious challenges not only for chemical manufacturers, but also for companies across the various downstream manufacturing sectors that rely on TSCA-reviewed chemistries.”
What Congress should do: As Congress weighs improvements to the TSCA, the NAM said it should:
- Improve the timeliness and predictability of review processes;
- Reinforce a risk-based approach reflective of real-world use conditions; and
- Support effective coordination across federal programs to remove duplicative requirements.
The last word: “Manufacturers strongly support the Environment and Public Works Committee’s efforts to improve TSCA while extending TSCA fee authority,” NAM Director of Chemicals, Materials and Sustainability Policy Reagan Giesenschlag told the committee.
- “Targeted improvements that enhance program efficiency, predictability and certainty will help unlock manufacturing investment, strengthen domestic supply chains and support American innovation.”