ACC to Congress: It's Time to Update TSCA, Pass the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA)

Historic Compromise Legislation Will Give Consumers More Confidence in Safety of Chemicals While Promoting Innovation, Economic Growth, American Jobs

March 14, 2014 | By Scott Jensen with the American Chemical Council

WASHINGTON (November 13, 2013) – American Chemistry Council President and CEO Cal Dooley today testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy to encourage Congress to take up legislation to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the law overseeing our nation’s chemical regulatory system.

Wednesday’s hearing examined Senate Bill S.1009, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA), historic compromise legislation that will help ensure chemicals can be used safely in the United States while maintaining the country’s competitive advantage. The bill has garnered support from a historic bipartisan coalition of 25 Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, environmental advocates, national and state organized labor, former senior EPA officials from both parties, small family-owned manufacturers across the United States (whose stories you can see here) and nearly 100 industry associations representing businesses of all sizes. Read more...

Bloomberg Businessweek

Global Economics

by Jack Kaskey

Ships sailing north from Chile are bringing an unusual cargo to the U.S.: chemical factories. Methanex (MEOH), the Canadian company that’s the world’s largest producer of methanol, is spending $1.1 billion to disassemble two of its Chilean factories and rebuild them in Geismar, La. The first plant is scheduled to open next year. A second will be relocated by early 2016.

Scores of other companies including ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), andSasol (SSL) plan to spend about $100 billion to build or expand chemical plants in the U.S., according to a tally kept by Dow Chemical (DOW), the biggest U.S. chemical maker by sales. Dow is spending $4 billion to build factories in Freeport, Tex., and reopen a plant in Hahnville, La., creating 500 manufacturing and 5,000 construction jobs. Five years ago the company was closing U.S. plants and moving production to the Middle East to gain access to cheaper raw materials and be closer to Asian markets. Read more...

US shale boom shakes Britain’s $33B chemicals industry

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Bloomberg in Natural gas

By Nidaa Bakhsh, Bloomberg News

The U.S. shale gas boom is reverberating across Britain’s chemical industry, the nation’s second-largest export earner.

The 20-billion pound ($33 billion) chemicals business is losing sales to lower-cost competitors such as in the U.S., where new supplies from domestic shale drilling have reduced prices for natural gas, the fuel used in making chemicals such as plastics. By 2020 the chemicals industry in the U.S. will be 21 percent larger than in Europe, from near parity now, according to the American Chemistry Council. Read more...

Chemical Industry Weekly News Roundup

November 15, 2013 | By Lindsay Frost 

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Thursday disclosed a new $3.45 billion stake in Exxon Mobil Corp., after buying 40.1 million shares in the world's largest publicly traded oil company, according to Reuters. Although the investment represents just 0.9% of Houston-based Exxon's shares, analysts said it reflects strong support by the second-richest American of one of the world's largest and most profitable companies. Exxon shares rose 84 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $94.06 in after-hours trading following Berkshire's disclosure of its stake. Read more...