ACD Press Release

Arlington, VA – Today, the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) President and CEO Eric R. Byer issued the following statement after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced proposed changes to the Risk Management Plan (RMP):

“NACD shares the EPA’s mission of preventing chemical accidents, improving preparedness, practicing environmental stewardship, and protecting communities. However, EPA’s proposed changes to the RMP rules, as announced last week, would place new complex and burdensome regulatory requirements on businesses already in compliance with existing law. RMP’s standing regulations are not only comprehensive and robust, but, according to the EPA itself, so effective in preventing and mitigating chemical accidents across the nation that ‘additional costs may not justify additional requirements.’

“At a time when American businesses face seemingly insurmountable inflation challenges and a historically unstable supply chain, the EPA should not attempt to cast unnecessary regulatory burdens on an industry that not only serves a unique and integral role in the U.S. economy but also operates in an impressively safe, secure, and environmentally sound manner. Instead, we urge the agency to dedicate its efforts toward ensuring all chemical facilities fully understand their safety and environmental protection regulatory obligations through outreach, compliance assistance, and strict enforcement of existing regulations rather than expansion for the sake of expansion.”

On July 26, 2021, NACD responded to the EPA’s request for comment on revisions to the RMP program to underscore the impacts of this potential change to the program and urged the agency to rely on its existing regulatory requirements. Those comments are available here.

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NACD and its over 400 member and Affiliate companies are vital to the chemical supply chain providing products to over 750,000 end users. NACD members are leaders in health, safety, security, and environmental performance through implementation of Responsible Distribution, established in 1991 as a condition of membership and a third party-verified management practice. For more information on NACD, visit www.nacd.com.