EPA Paperwork

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules require an increasing number of reports on the manufacturing, transportation, sale, use and disposal of lengthening lists of chemicals. As a result, the regulatory paperwork burden on industry and state and local governments is rapidly increasing.

• There are now 37 lists of chemicals created by 10 major environmental, health and safety statutes, with 6,986 reporting requirements on 2,554 different chemicals and chemical categories.

• The EPA estimates that the 308 reporting requirements under its regulations generated 4.53 million reports and took a total of almost 86 million hours to file in 1994.

• The costs of reporting under eight major environmental statutes alone was an estimated $2.9 billion in 1994.

In March 1995 the EPA pledged to reduce the paperwork burden by 25 percent, or more than 20 million hours, by June of this year. Instead, by March 31, 1996, the EPA's information collection required 103.7 million hours of reporting time, a 15-month increase of about 28 percent over January 1995.

An official of the General Accounting Office testified to a congressional committee that by September 30 the EPA's paperwork burden will rise to about 117 million hours — a 44 percent increase from the level at the time of the paperwork reduction pledge.

Source: Jeffrey C. Terry, "Environmental Paperwork," April 3, 1996, Chemical Manufacturers Association, 1300 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209, (703) 741-5000.