The US Senate is ready to approve Donald Trump's appointment of an industry lobbyist to head US Environmental Protection Agency chemical safety room.
If Douglas Troutman is confirmed, four top toxics division positions at the Environmental Protection Agency will be filled by former chemical industry lobbyists, raising new concerns about the health and safety of the American public, consumers and workers, campaigners say.
“The asylum is run by crazy people, and industry is firmly in charge of chemical safety,” said Scott Faber, vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which lobbies on chemical safety issues. “They will stop at nothing to reverse the progress we have made in recent years on toxic chemicals.”
Trautman is currently the chief lobbyist for the American Cleaning Institute, a trade group representing cleaning product manufacturers including BASF, Dow and Procter & Gamble. If approved, he would oversee the EPA. Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Among other responsibilities, the office evaluates the safety of new chemicals that industry wants to send to market, re-evaluates the safety of previously approved chemicals, and monitors the pesticide program.
IN statement In testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Trautman used language that suggested he was likely to follow the administration's lead on deregulation.
“I hope to take a smart approach to addressing chemicals management issues and challenges, based on the belief that economic prosperity and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive,” Troutman said.
He was among industry lobbyists for a 2016 revision of the Toxic Substances Control Act, which aimed to strengthen protections against toxic chemicals. However, the industry has worked successfully in loopholes which chemical manufacturers and other manufacturers have since exploited.
Faber, who lobbied for the bills against Troutman, told an anecdote that he said “captures who Doug is.”
In 2017, public health advocates, industry representatives and California legislators worked together to develop and enact legislation the so-called Cleaning Products Right to Know Act, which required the industry to disclose information about the chemicals used in their cleaning products.
Prior to its adoption, its contents were protected by confidential business information laws. RGE research found that common cleaning products may contain any of hundreds of volatile organic compounds linked to cancer and other health problems. Another study found that frequent use of cleaning products increased the risk of asthma in children.
The California law is one of the most important chemical transparency laws in the country for consumer protection, Faber said.
“This is a huge deal because we can't properly protect consumers from harm if we don't know what's in the products,” Faber said.
But in 2023, public health advocates and many industry representatives were taken by surprise when Larry Bucshon, then a member of Congress, unexpectedly introduced a bill that would preempt state laws and repeal the Cleaning Products Right to Know Act, Faber said.
According to Faber, public health groups and many industry players initially did not know who was behind the attempt to repeal the Cleaning Products Act. But he added that they soon learned who they said was apparently the source of the information: Trautman.
IN press release At the time, Trautman called the law “a pro-consumer proposal that provides clarity on how cleaning product manufacturers inform consumers about the ingredients in their products on packaging, online or in an app.”
Even large cleaning companies such as Clorox And pen opposed the bill and he died without moving, Faber said, but added that it provides insight into how Trautman might run the chemical safety office.
“The California law was a truly historic breakthrough that brought together non-governmental organizations and industry leaders, and Doug Trautman sought to repeal it,” Faber said.
Other leadership positions in the Chemical Safety Department include Nancy Beck and Lynn Ann Dekleva. Beck, assistant office administrator, helped lead the industry against new drinking water restrictions for PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” which are considered among the most toxic substances created by humans and are estimated to contaminate the drinking water of at least 143 million people.
Having attended a previous meeting of Trump's Environmental Protection Agency and after that as a lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council, Beck helped loosen the rules around asbestos, methylene chloride, lead and PCBs.
Dekleva, a deputy assistant administrator in the chemical safety division, is a former Trump EPA official and a DuPont executive who, along with Beck, was accused of helping lead the chemical division's broader efforts to interfere with agent scienceincluding changing reports for political reasons.
“They have a lot of experience at the agency, and we don't have to guess — we know what they've done and what they're going to do,” said Jennifer Sass, a senior fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which lobbies on issues of toxic chemicals.
Meanwhile, Kyle Kunkler, the new deputy assistant administrator who will oversee the pesticide program, is a former pesticide industry lobbyist. He was given 2020 Rising Star Award from CropLife, a major agricultural trade group.
Faber said there's little that can be done to stop new Chemical Safety Administration leadership from rolling back the rules, but added, “We need government authority more than ever.” Hundreds of state laws passed in recent years have banned or imposed restrictions on the use of toxic chemicals, forcing industry to stop using them. However, Trump's Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule aimed at overturning recent government regulations on toxic chemicals.
“Our only hope right now is to preserve state laws,” Faber said.
