CCA wiggles out of a jam
June 23, 2016
Arthur Duplantis Jr.
June 28, 2016
Louisianians have seen the state’s chemical industry grow exponentially in recent years, becoming the nation’s second largest chemical manufacturing state, supporting 150,000 direct and indirect jobs. Across the country, the chemical industry supports more than 800,000 skilled jobs and contributes billions of dollars to our economy each year.
In order to make sure our chemical industry can continue to grow and succeed, I’ve been working on legislation to update the regulatory code, and I’m very pleased to announce that the President signed my bill into law last week.
My bill — the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act — will allow Louisiana job creators to maintain our global competitiveness as leading innovators in chemical manufacturing, just as we are with other sectors of our economy.
We come into contact with chemicals every single day, whether it is cars, computers, fertilizer, or even Mardi Gras beads. Yet too few of them have actually been studied to determine whether they affect the health of vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and young children. For decades, our federal laws have allowed chemicals to be widely used despite a lack of strong evidence proving their safety.
That’s why over five years ago I began working to reform the grossly outdated Toxic Substances Control Act — the last massive piece of environmental law from the 1970s yet to be brought into the 21st century.
I partnered with the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the U.S. Senate’s go-to champion for chemical safety reform, because I knew that working with him — not against him — in a truly bipartisan fashion would be the best way to craft a substantive fix. After months of negotiations, we introduced a historic bipartisan chemical safety reform bill back in 2013.
Unfortunately, Frank passed away shortly thereafter, and it looked like our reform efforts had stalled until my good friend and colleague Sen. Tom Udall told me he would be interested in stepping in to continue the legislative process.
My chemical safety bill contains thoughtful, common-sense reforms to fix a law that just doesn’t work anymore. It implements a uniform federal regulatory program that creates long-term certainty for the chemical and manufacturing industries. This means instead of 50 different State rulebooks, Louisiana companies can follow one set of rules, which helps a lot when it comes to interstate and international commerce.
By making the regulatory environment easier to navigate, Louisiana chemical and manufacturing companies will be able to focus more of their resources on long-term growth, research and development, innovation and create new well-paying jobs for folks across the state.
Cynics will say there is no bipartisanship in Washington. Well, we’ve just proved them wrong. My legislation has the support of a variety of groups including Louisiana companies, the Louisiana Chemical Association, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Humane Society, the March of Dimes and countless others.
After four decades of living under an outdated chemical law, I know that the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act will provide a bright future for our families, communities, businesses and economy.
