New Bill Could Further Deregulate the Asbestos Industry

National environmental groups are banding together to fight the Regulatory Accountability Act, a bill they say would make it harder to protect consumers from dangerous substances such as asbestos. Officially known as the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) of 2017, it passed the U.S. House of Representatives in January and is now on the U.S. Senate floor. It combines six previously passed bills to eliminate what sponsors call “overly burdensome red tape and regulation,” while promising to hold federal agencies more accountable and create a more transparent rulemaking process. But critics claim the RAA has nothing to do with accountability or transparency. They claim it will make it harder for federal safety regulatory agencies, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to protect the public from dangerous chemicals and toxic substances. Scott Slesinger, legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) — one of 14 environmental groups that co-signed a letter to members of the Senate urging them to oppose the bill — said the RAA will tilt the scales in favor of polluters at the public’s expense. The U.S. is one of few industrialized nations to not have a complete ban on asbestos, a toxic mineral linked to serious health conditions including mesothelioma cancer. “The bill includes a lot of the philosophies that were included in the old [Toxic Substances Control Act] that made it impossible to regulate certain chemicals, most nota...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: asbestos ban Asbestos Ban and Phase-Out Rule asbestos legislation Corrosion Proof Fittings deregulation bills Donald Trump environmental protection agency Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act Natural Resources Defen Source Type: news