Emergency incidents of environmental contamination

The 2003 Reporting Guidance requires reporting emergency incidents of environmental contamination. Those incidents are defined as  

The EPA said that similar criteria for other species have not been developed and data should be evaluated on a case by case basis. However, companies are reporting data on other environmental species, and conservative assumptions are made in the checklists for reporting in Chapter 20, Practice Tools. 

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Information concerning chemical substances that are not manufactured in, imported into, processed in, or distributed in the United States is not reportable. Emergency incidents of environmental contamination and widespread distribution that occur outside of the United States are not reportable unless there is a substantial likelihood that contamination will result in the United States. 

Substantial risk information that must be reported to EPA must be submitted immediately, a term that has no statutory definition in TSCA. In its 2003 Reporting Guidance, EPA stated that a person has immediately informed the Administrator if human health information is received by the EPA not later than the thirtieth calendar day after the date the person obtained such information. The EPA has said it is not sufficient for the submittal to be postmarked within thirty days, and it is up to the submitter to ensure that the EPA receives it within the required time frame. Emergency incidents of environmental contamination must be reported to the EPA by telephone as soon as the person has knowledge of the incident. That could be on the order of minutes or hours, but it would be difficult to argue that waiting a full day is contemplated. If the information is required to be, and has been, reported under another statute administered by EPA, such as CERCEA, the TSCA 8(e) report is unnecessary. Any supplementary information must also be reported immediately. 

The original maximum penalties in the Reporting Rule ERP must be increased by a factor of 1.5 for violations occurring after January 13, 2009 because the penalties appHcable to all environmental violations have been increased. A failure to report under 8(a), (d) and (e), and failure to make records under TSCA 8(c) are all Circumstance Level 1. Violations are assessed for only one day for failure to report emergency incidents of environmental contamination under TSCA 8(e) and for failure to record allegations under TSCA 8(c). Failures to report all other 8(e) information, and failures to report under 8(a) and (d) are assessed penalties for each day that the violation continues. ... 

The extent of a reporting violation will be classified as major if it is a violation of 8(c), (d), or (e) and directly interferes with the EPA s response to imminent hazards, unreasonable risks, or substantial endangerment to health or the environment. Violations of 8(d) or (e) that involve human data, and violations of 8(e) involving emergency incidents of environmental contamination, and all of the Level 6 violations described above, are classified as major extent. ... 

The extent of a violation is significant if it is a violation of 8(d) or (e) involving anything other than human data, emergency incidents of environmental contamination, physical chemical properties, or environmental fate data. A violation is also significant in extent if it is a Level 1,2,3, or 4 violation of a PAIR rule, a chemical specific 8(a) rule, or any 8(c) violation that is not categorized as major extent. 

Checklist to Determine Whether Non-Emergency Incidents of Environmental Contamination are Reportable Linder Section V(b)(1) of EPA s 2003 Policy Statement 752... 

Corroborative information is not reportable, but to be corroborative the information must substantially duplicate or confirm a prior result. The route of exposure, dose, species, strain, and sex of the test animal, time to onset of effect, nature, and severity of the effect must be the same. Similarly, a well-recognized and well-established serious adverse effect need not be reported. However, observations of known effects during an emergency incident of environmental contamination may be reportable. 

In every case except an emergency incident of environmental contamination, TSCA 8(e) reporting is due no later than the thirtieth calendar day after anyone at the Company receives reportable information. 

Emergency incidents of environmental contamination must be reported immediately to the National Response Center, (800) 424-8802, and the EPA. 

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