EPA Develops Industry-Friendly Wood-Products Regulation
How does the song go? “It’s all the same; only the names have changed.” This time around, it’s the wood-products industry. Since 2002, the U.S. EPA has been under court order to develop a regulation governing formaldehyde emissions from wood-products facilities. Formaldehyde is used as a binding agent in pressed-wood products; it is also classified as a probable human carcinogen, though the science remains in dispute. In writing the reg issued earlier this year, the EPA used a risk-assessment model developed by a think tank funded by the chemical industry, and also employed an unorthodox legal strategy suggested by a timber-industry lawyer. Top EPA officials with direct ties to the chemical and timber industries ushered the regulation through over objections from enviros and long-time enforcement officials. The result is a rule that disregards major recent studies tying formaldehyde exposure to cancer risk and saves the wood-products industry — a major contributor to the Republican Party — hundreds of millions of dollars. Hum along if you know the tune …
