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.”