AUGUST 2002   VOL. 13, NO. 7

InsideWashington by Janet Kopenhaver, AWPA Director of Government Affairs

TRADE

•  Free Trade Agreements
A major effort is beginning to get a free trade agreement with sub-Saharan Africa. The starting point for this new trade and aid diplomacy for Africa has been the active implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a preferential trade law like that Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA). The five nations of the Southern Africa Customs Union - South Africa, Botswana, Nambia, Lesotho and Swaziland - have also expressed interest in a possible FTA.

ENVIRONMENTAL & REGULATORY AFFAIRS

•  Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG)
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering "no further regulation" with respect to the Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) for the Steel Forming and Finishing sector covered under the Metal Products and Machinery (MP&M) Point Source category. EPA had proposed that wire producers be moved from the Iron and Steel Point Source category to MP&M during the drafting of this rule. If the Agency decides on "no further regulation," than AWPA members would continue to be regulated under the Iron and Steel rule.

EPA had requested industry comments on this proposal, and AWPA complied with this request, agreeing that there should be no further regulation. If this is the final outcome and we do remain covered under Iron and Steel, then AWPA can consider this environmental effort a success!

•  Lead Rule Criticized
The new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that significantly lowers the threshold above which companies must report their emissions of lead will be too expensive and unwieldy for many companies to implement and lacks scientific justification, a panel of business representatives told the House Small Business Regulatory Reform Subcommittee. The rule, finalized during the last days of the Clinton Administration and approved three months later by the Bush Administration, requires businesses that process, manufacture or use 100 pounds of lead per year to report all releases of the toxic metal. Prior to the change, the threshold was 25,000 pounds for companies that process or manufacture lead and 10,000 for companies that use it.

The new rule requires lead reporting from many businesses that were never required to report it before, and many complain that the rule was applied retroactively, making it almost impossible to follow.

Other witnesses said the agency issued the rule without proper scientific justification and failed to adequately assess the impact of the rule on small businesses. Others said the agency failed to provide compliance assistance and guidance that were promised in October of 2001.

•  TMDL Under Consideration
The Bush Administration is considering a plan to reduce federal oversight of a key Clean Water Act anti-pollution program and instead "trust states" to clean up more than 20,000 dirty rivers, lakes and estuaries. The proposal would reverse a July 2000 Clinton Administration rule requiring EPA approval of states' efforts to restore "impaired water bodies," a designation applying to about 300,000 miles of rivers and shorelines and 5 million acres of lakes.

The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program was seen as a kind of backup, focusing on standards for entire water bodies instead of individual polluters. It required states to address pollutants in diffuse runoff from lawns, streets and farms, as well as concentrated pollution from smokestacks and drainpipes. But those standards were rarely enforced, which led to the litigation boom. Today, 44% of the nation's water bodies are still "impaired" by sediments, nutrients and microorganisms that elude the rest of the Clean Water Act's pollution controls.

To address the problem, the Clinton rule directed states to determine the maximum pollution load each water body can handles, then develop broad regulatory plans over 10 to 15 years to meet those targets, subject to EPA approval.

Last year, a National Academy of Sciences study raised new questions about the TMDL program, concluding, "Considerable uncertainty exists about whether some of these waters violate pollution standards." EPA Administrator Christie Whitman then announced she would extend a congressionally-imposed moratorium on implementing the rule until 2003, and change the rules before putting them into effect.

Now Whitman is considering the new proposal, which would emphasize states' planning for entire watersheds instead of individual water bodies, and would provide states with greater flexibility to downgrade water quality standards for specific rivers and lakes.

OTHER LEGISLATION

•  Ergonomics Is Back
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved, by a partisan vote of 11-10, legislation that would require the Labor Department to write new rules aimed at preventing workplace injuries (S 2184). The bill is intended to reduce the more than 500,000 annual workplace injuries caused by repetitive motions.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Breaux (D-LA), would require the Labor Department to issue rules clearly defining the circumstance by which employers would be required to address repetitive-motion injuries and the standards by which they would be measured. Republicans found the bill too similar to the Clinton Administration's ergonomics rule that the GOP-controlled Congress overturned last year.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao sent a letter of objection to the bill to the Committee saying she would recommend a veto if the bill reached the president's desk in its present form. That likelihood seems remote, since GOP opposition in both chambers of Congress would make it almost impossible to pass. In any case, the Senate is not likely to take up the bill until this fall when its sponsors are likely to offer it as an amendment to the fiscal year 2003 Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill.

•  Small Business Paperwork Relief
The House approved the final version of the "Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002", which will provide real assistance for small businesses to cope with burdensome government regulations and paperwork requirements. The bill now goes to the president for his signature.

The bill's provisions include:

• Easier access to assistance resources for small businesses;
• A point person at each federal agency to deal with small business concerns;
• Greater emphasis on reducing paperwork requirements for businesses with fewer than 25 employees; and
• A task force to study the feasibility of streamlining information collection and creating an online network of requirements by industry sector.

On another note, US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said she plans to unveil a strategy to bring transparency to the regulatory jungle facing smaller businesses. Chao pledged to create an agency within the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that would be dedicated to small business regulatory needs. She also said her department would create service call centers to help all employers anonymously inquire of Labor Department enforcement agencies if they are in compliance with the vast number of regulations they must follow.

As part of the plan, Chao announced a new, permanent senior position at the Department of Labor - a Director of Compliance Assistance. This new director will ensure that all of the Department's agencies are doing all they can to help employers comply with regulations.

A new toll-free information line, 1-866-4-USA-DOL, will provide clear answers to questions about laws dealing with pay and leave, workplace safety, health and pension benefits, and veterans' reemployment rights. Information is also available through the E-Laws website at www.dol.gov/elaws. E-laws is an innovative service that provides answers to frequently asked questions and includes links to all Department of Labor agencies and regional offices. Department staff will also engage in more hands-on activities and conduct workshops throughout the country to educate workers and employers of their rights and obligations under the law.

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