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earlier this month. We also promulgated a final TSCA § 4 Test Rule in October 1993 

 on four chemicals of interest to EPA's Office of Drinking Water and were sued by 

 the manufacturers of two of the four chemicfds; settlement negotiations are under- 

 way. In November 1993, we issued a proposed TSCA §4 Test Rule for five chemiceds 

 designated for testing by the TSCA ITC. These rules are cumbersome to prepare be- 

 cause of the specific findings that the Agency must make and because of the inevi- 

 table delays in the rulemaking process. However, I consider the Agency's ability to 

 issue test rules to be critical for assuring the public that adequate testing will be 

 carried out. 



Since the TSCA Chemical Testing Program began more than 15 years ago, there 

 have been: 



386 chemicals in TSCA §4 Proposed Rule-Makings (PRM) 



255 chemicals in TSCA §4 Decisions Not to Test (DNT) 



24 chemicals in Negotiated Testing Agreements (NTA) 



121 chemicals in TSCA §4 Final Rule-Makings (FRM) 



35 chemicals in Enforceable TSCA § 4 Consent Agreements (ECAs) 



230 chemicals in Voluntary Testing Agreements (VTA). 



If we focus on the period since 1988, when EPA first started to deal in earnest 

 with GAO and Congressional concerns about the general lack of productivity of ovu* 

 Chemical Testing Program, most of our final testing actions have involved and vol- 

 untary testing agreements (200 chemicals). Over the same period, 61 chemicals were 

 the subject of final TSCA § 4 Test Rules, and 69 chemicals were the subject of TSCA 

 § 4 DNTs. A smaller number (34 chemicals) were tested under ECAs. 



Currently, OPPT is developing proposed testing actions for more than 200 chemi- 

 cals and final testing actions for over 150 chemicals. During this fiscal year, we ex- 

 pect to have over 200 chemicals undergoing testing as the result of the efforts of 

 our Chemical Testing Program; more than 50 chemicals are expected to complete 

 their testing programs during this fiscal year. All of the test results will be evalu- 

 ated in our TSCA Existing Chemicals Program "Risk Management" (RM) process. 

 Thus, we are working to integrate our testing and existing chemicals programs. 



The second strategic change to the Chemical Testing Program is the development 

 of a Master Testing List (MTL). The MTL establishes a clear agenda of priority test- 

 ing needs identified by EPA, other Federal agencies, the ITC and the international 

 community. The MTL also allows OPPT to focus its limited resources on the high- 

 est-priority testing needs and to encourage chemical industry initiatives to conduct 

 testing to address and fill the priority data needs identified on the MTL. In addi- 

 tion, OPPT uses the MTL to keep the public informed about OPPT's testing prior- 

 ities and to solicit public input into OPPT's Chemical Testing Program. The MTL 

 currently contains over 400 chemicals and 10 categories of chemicals. Testing ac- 

 tions are underway for virtually all of the entries on the list. 



The Agency recognized the success of these management reforms in correcting the 

 deficiencies identified by GAO with its 1993 decision to lift; the testing program's 

 Federal Management and Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) "material weakness" des- 

 ignation. Nevertheless, while the program has successfully dealt with a number of 

 problem areas, issues and concerns remain. In essence, even at the accelerated level 

 of testing we see today we still are not closing the testing gaps at a pace originally 

 envisioned by TSCA. The statute puts a significant burden on EPA, both in the find- 

 ings it must make and the processes it must use, to obtain needed test data. Once 

 issued, these rules have faced substantial litigation. In short, these are high trans- 

 action costs. Although Enforceable Consent Agreements and voluntary approaches, 

 which are not mechanisms explicitly recognized in the statute, can do much to meet 

 the testing needs of the government, a more effective and efficient procedure for pro- 

 mulgating testing requirements would significantly strengthen our ability to obtain 

 priority test data in a reasonable timeframe. 



Existing Chemicals 



The original thrust of the TSCA existing chemicals program was to identify and 

 manage unreasonable risks presented by individual chemicals. In recent years, the 

 program has been greatly influenced by the concept of pollution prevention and ex- 

 perience gained through the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The existing chemicals 



