US EPA Denies Aluminium Industry TSCA Reporting Petition

The US EPA has denied two aluminium industry petitions for partial exemptions from reporting requirements under the TSCA chemical data reporting rule. Received by the agency in late January, the Aluminum Association’s petitions had argued that aluminium and aluminium oxide are of "low current interest" and therefore should be partially exempt from the quadrennial reporting scheme. This was a follow-up to a similar 2003 request, which the EPA denied in 2011.

But in a 30 May response denying the petitions, the EPA said it has determined there is "continued interest in these substances due to potential concern from workers’ inhalation of fume or dust forms of aluminium and from potential impacts on aquatic organisms."

The agency said that the CDR rule which requires manufacturers and importers to provide information on the production and use of chemicals used in large quantities addresses existing data gaps for exposure information. Risk-screening information complementary to the CDR "is not sufficient or does not exist", it said.

Furthermore, it said that there appears to be new or emerging uses of aluminium and aluminium oxide, which necessitates continued reporting. It therefore denied the request.

The EPA did, however, recognise concerns raised in the petitions about inaccurate reporting. Specific examples of this were cases where businesses may be reporting aluminium when they should instead be reporting an aluminium compound, and inaccuracies around the substance's use in children’s products.

The agency said it would consider addressing these concerns in updates to CDR guidance, ahead of the 2020 reporting cycle.

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