OPINION:
NHL star Wayne Gretzky once said, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” When it comes to rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, policymakers have repeatedly missed their shot thanks to “Infrastructure Week” mirages, budget battles and regulatory missteps. It’s time to take a real shot at finding a better and new approach to fixing America’s infrastructure — one that involves chemistry.
The building blocks necessary to support everyday life come from chemistry, including materials needed for just about every aspect of our nation’s infrastructure. Building roads and bridges and upgrading energy transmission lines, water systems and transportation networks all relies on materials made possible by American chemistry.
Updating national infrastructure is one of the country’s biggest challenges and greatest opportunities. Our industry prides itself on finding new and cutting-edge ways to take on big challenges. In fact, the chemical industry invested more than $12 billion in research and development (R&D) on technological innovations in 2023, including new materials that can help make our country’s infrastructure better than before.
To meet this challenge, we need smarter federal policies that allow us to tap into the full power of chemistry. When it comes to rebuilding infrastructure, the role of the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t typically spring to mind, especially the agency’s chemical review program. But it should.
After a promising start as a bipartisan effort, implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) program has faltered, forcing our industry to try to meet the increasing demand for chemistry with one hand tied behind our back. TSCA is important because it is the gatekeeper for the use of thousands of chemicals that are needed for products we rely on for just about everything, including those needed to rebuild our country’s infrastructure.
When it comes to construction projects, there should be no patience for delays. People expect projects to be completed on time and on budget. Those same expectations should apply to the EPA when it comes to reviewing chemicals that are vital to national priorities.
TSCA new chemical reviews, which are supported by industry fees, require the EPA to consider the safety of new chemical products before they go to market. These reviews are required by law to be completed within 90 days of submission. Despite that clear requirement, EPA chemical reviews often take years instead of months to complete.
Right now, there are 445 new chemicals under review by EPA, while only 38 are active and have not exceeded the 90-day statutory deadline. This means EPA is “making” less than 10% of the shots and that’s an abysmal record. Some new chemicals can sit for four or five years, sometimes more, awaiting review. In Asia and Europe, new chemicals are generally reviewed in as few as three to four weeks.
To make matters worse, EPA delays often occur without communication or explanation, leaving innovative chemistries to sit waiting in limbo while other countries plow ahead.
These delays hurt our ability to innovate, and they are holding America back. EPA must do better and act more quickly. That’s why we are urging the Trump administration to work with policymakers to make surgical improvements to TSCA.
For example, one way to make TSCA work better would be for EPA to implement a shot clock, one that counts down the number of days it takes the agency to complete new chemical reviews. This countdown should be public and include an enforcement mechanism when EPA misses the 90-day deadline. This level of transparency and accountability would result in more timely and transparent reviews of chemicals.
Without changes to TSCA and accountability for EPA, more delays and uncertainty could make manufacturers less likely to invest in the R&D we need to bring new and innovative products to market in America. In fact, surveys of our member companies have shown that, instead of dealing with TSCA’s problematic New Chemicals Program, many have chosen to introduce new chemistries in foreign markets, where more predictable frameworks and quicker timeframes provide better certainty to support long-term investments.
Chemical manufacturers are all in when it comes to America’s infrastructure, since we depend on it every day. And we can provide vital contributions to making it better than ever. Teamwork and smart policies will give us our best shot at building out a modern infrastructure that will help boost our economy and help our country become a manufacturing superpower.
America’s future depends on infrastructure built with American chemistry.
• Chris Jahn is president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council. For more insights on how American success relies on American chemistry, follow him on LinkedIn and @JahnChris on X.
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