Recently, American chemical companies and chemical distributors are striving to adapt to an increasing number of regulatory regulations. At the recent ChemEdge conference and trade show held in Texas, the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) provided the latest legislative and regulatory information. NACD reminds American chemical companies and distributors that the US government is likely to introduce more regulatory regulations before the 2024 US election, which will have an impact on the operations of American chemical companies.
NACD believes that since taking office in 2021, US President Biden has actively promoted the introduction of new regulations, including multiple new regulations related to chemical production. The period between the current and 2024 presidential elections is the last opportunity for this government to advance its policies. NACD believes that in the coming months, the US government will introduce more regulatory regulations.
NACD told American chemical companies that climate change and environmental neutrality have become guiding issues for federal government agencies to formulate policies. This is certainly beneficial to society and the environment, but it makes chemical construction, chemical operations, and other work more difficult, and the burden of chemical enterprises complying with regulations is also heavier. Jennifer Gibson, Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at NACD, stated that environmental neutrality has made it more difficult for companies to build and expand chemical production facilities in the United States.
Gibson pointed out that this is not the first time the US government has raised the issue of environmental neutrality and climate change. However, the Biden administration was the first US government to emphasize environmental neutrality so prominently. In April 2023, President Biden signed an executive order declaring that environmental neutrality is the responsibility of all agencies under the President and should be included in their mission. Gibson stated that concerns about environmental neutrality have led federal agencies to conduct more inspections of chemical production facilities, to the extent that companies are already concerned about approval issues. To this end, the American Chemical Manufacturers Association has also announced that the organization will hold a meeting to discuss how to design and plan in an environmentally neutral era to more smoothly meet government permits.
NACD stated that in the near future, the US government is likely to enact regulations restricting perfluorinated and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). At present, the fire foam containing PFAS has become the subject of class action litigation nationwide in the United States. Because they have long been used to put out fires in air bases and airports, this foam will pollute water resources and take a long time to decompose, leading to high environmental remediation costs. However, for chemical enterprises, new regulations may require chemical enterprises to purchase new fire fighting foam, which may lead to the need for chemical enterprises to renovate the entire fire fighting system to adapt to new fire fighting products. NACD also stated that the government should provide some form of assistance to help cover the cost of such renovations.
In addition, Gibson also predicts that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing stricter risk management standards for dichloromethane. All consumer and most industrial uses of this chemical will be prohibited. Gibson stated that for chemical companies, the pressure is not on whether to ban it, but on the possibility of dichloromethane management standards being used as templates for other chemicals and the rapid introduction of more new regulations by 2024.
NACD stated that the agency has focused on re authorizing the country's main anti-terrorism and chemical production base security plans, namely the Chemical Facility Anti Terrorism Standards (CFATS). The previous CFATS expired in late July of this year, and audits and on-site inspections have ceased. At present, chemical companies no longer need to review their employees through the Department of Homeland Security's personnel security tools, that is, they no longer need to compare their employees with the terrorist list registered by the US government.
CFATS may seem unrelated to chemical production, but NACD President and CEO Eric Bayer stated that the danger is that the bill to re authorize CFATS may put chemical companies in a difficult position due to additional clauses and other policies unrelated to chemical on-site safety. The consequences may increase the costs of the chemical company without making any contribution to improving on-site safety. If the United States does not re authorize CFATS, states can pass their own chemical production site safety laws. The result will be a patchwork of state regulations, which will complicate the compliance of chemical enterprises.
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