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[August 2004]
SGCD Testifies on TRI Lead Rule Burden Reduction
Andy Bopp, the Director of Public Affairs at the Society of Glass & Ceramic Decorators (SGCD - Zanesville, OH, USA), testified in May before the House Small Business Committee on EPA's efforts to reduce the TRI Lead rule reporting burden for small glass and ceramic decorators. The hearing focused on current efforts by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to work with federal agencies including EPA to minimise regulatory burdens on small business.
The committee Chairman, Don Manzullo, commented after Andy Bopp's testimony that small American manufacturers, including glass and ceramic decorators, "should not have to fight their own government along with foreign competitors and foreign governments". He also demanded that EPA provide his committee with details of its efforts to streamline the TRI reporting process for small businesses.
SGCD and others have pressed EPA for burden relief for TRI Lead reporters ever since the rule was passed in 2001. In SIC32 - which includes the glass and ceramic industry - 532 Form Rs for lead and lead compounds were filed for the 2001 reporting year. Of these submissions, 31% of the companies reported zero release to the environment and an additional 16% reported release of between zero and one pound. 57% reported less than 10 pounds of annual release to the environment. As SGCD had informed EPA, the majority of companies were small businesses and these results were not unexpected.
EPA has indicated that it hopes to issue a formal burden reduction rule by February 2005 after it completes an analysis of its recent Stakeholder Dialog. Options include the creation of a simple 'Form NS' which small TRI Lead reporters could use to indicate that there had been no significant change in process or waste disposal from a baseline TRI reporting year as well as restored eligibility for 'Form A' usage for other TRI Lead reporters.www.sgcd.org
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