CPR President Rena Steinzor: Toxic chemical bill trumps state rights

Yesterday,  The Hill published an opinion piece by Center for Progressive Reform President Rena Steinzor.

The piece, entitled, "Toxic chemical bill trumps state rights" can be read here.

Steinzor writes:

We read with dismay… the drastic provisions of legislation authored by Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and the late Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) deceptively entitled the Chemical Safety “Improvement” Act.  This misguided effort to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, pronounced TOSCA like the opera) would make all federal rulemaking “determinative” of toxic chemical exposure limits, thereby freezing in their tracks state efforts to pass standards that are more stringent than what the beleaguered Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has managed to cough up.  Never mind that certain kinds of chemical pollution are far worse in some states than they are at the national level, and forget the notion that democracy is strongest when citizens are closer to government.   States would be forced to stand down, to the grave detriment of public health.