ILMA Compoundings August 2017 - 35

WASHINGTON LANDSCAPE

Chlorinated Paraffin Industry
Moves Forward After EPA
Approves All Outstanding PMNs
By Andrew Jaques

s discussed in my August 2016
Compoundings article, over the
past five years the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has been reviewing a dozen or more
chlorinated paraffin (CP) premanufacture notifications (PMNs). After much
consideration and input from industry
stakeholders, EPA has now approved all
of these PMNs. This action will permit
the ongoing manufacture and use of
medium-chain CPs (MCCPs), C14-17;
long-chain CPs (LCCPs), C18-20; and
very long-chain CPs (vLCCPs), C21+
in existing applications, including metalworking fluids and other lubricants.
(RECENT) HISTORY
EPA required these PMNs because it
determined in 2009 that the existing
substance descriptions for CPs were
inadequate and that new ones were
needed. EPA further decided that the
PMN process was the appropriate
mechanism for adding these new substance descriptions to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory.
While CP manufacturers challenged
EPA's determination that the existing
descriptions were inadequate and
PMNs were needed for these chemicals,
EPA ultimately prevailed.
Requiring these substances to be
treated as new chemicals and to go
through the PMN process resulted in a
difficult and challenging regulatory situation for CP manufacturers and users.
Even EPA appeared to struggle with
reviewing CPs under the new process
when it became clear that existing users
of these chemicals had strong opinions
regarding EPA's assessments, something
that does not occur with typical PMN

reviews. Ultimately, EPA did consider
the significant data and input from the
industry and revised its risk assessments
of these CP substances.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
After updating the CP risk assessments
in April 2017, EPA determined that the
substances could be approved for commerce with the development of additional
data. EPA sent consent orders to the three
PMN submitters (Chlorinated Paraffins
Industry Association (CPIA) members)
in May 2017, and these have now been
signed and returned to EPA. Notices of
Commencement (NOCs) are now being
submitted to EPA by CPIA's members for
these substances, which will trigger EPA
to add these substances to the TSCA Inventory. These substances will be listed in
Federal Register in the coming months.
EPA will also soon be issuing a
Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) that
applies the consent order requirements
to any manufacturer or importer of
these substances that is not a signatory
to the order. This will require the manufacturers and importers of these CPs
to conduct a series of triggered environmental fate and aquatic toxicity studies
over the next five years. It also limits the
use to "a flame retardant and plasticizer
in PVC and polymers; a flame retardant,
plasticizer and lubricant in adhesives,
caulks, sealants and coatings; an additive
in lubricants including metalworking
fluids; a flame retardant and plasticizer
in rubber; a flame retardant and waterproofer to textiles." CPIA believes that
these uses cover all existing applications
of these CP substances.
Downstream users of these newly
approved CP substances can expect to

get a variety of new product information from the supplier(s) and should
also be aware that the consent order
requires suppliers to get prior written
acknowledgement from customers
concerning the export notification requirements under TSCA Section 12(b).
While those notification requirements
apply only to companies that export a
substance outside the U.S., EPA is now
adding this acknowledgment requirement to all customers of substances
subject to consent orders. This prior
acknowledgement requirement will end
75 days after the final SNUR is issued.
NEXT STEPS FOR THE CP INDUSTRY
CPIA is now in the preliminary stages of
developing a testing program to address
EPA's requirements and will be working
to complete this in the allotted five-year
period. This testing is long-term environmental fate and toxicity research.
Once the five-year testing program
is complete and the data submitted to
EPA, it might be several years or more
before we know whether EPA will require any additional testing or take any
further regulatory actions on these CPs.
In the meantime, CPIA plans to remain active and engaged with ILMA and
the other interested downstream users
of CPs to ensure that the use scenarios
and environmental releases are properly
characterized in the risk assessments.
Jaques is executive director of
the Chlorinated Paraffins
Industry Association (CPIA)
and can be reached at
202-419-1504 or ajaques@regnet.com. CPIA
members are Dover Chemical, Inovyn and
Qualice LLC.

ILMA Compoundings August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ILMA Compoundings August 2017