ILMA clarifies confusion over anticipated EPA action on chlorinated paraffins

In an effort to address ongoing misinformation about the regulatory status of medium- and long-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs and LCCPs), the Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) has sent out a letter to its membership to “correct the record,” according to the ILMA website.

ILMA has been the voice of member companies that produce more than a quarter of the U.S.’s lubricants and three-quarters of its metalworking fluids.

The association, which is based in Alexandria, Va., U.S.A., said statements that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “will phase out or ban the manufacture and importation of MCCPs and LCCPs by mid-2017 are illusory and have no regulatory or legal significance.”

MCCPs and LCCPs are used as extreme-pressure additives in certain metalworking fluids.

EPA officials made references in two presentations last year that the agency “intended to remove MCCPs and LCCPs from commerce by mid-2017.”

ILMA said that the “EPA has not stated in any correspondence and communications between the agency and the companies that have pre-manufacture notices (PMNs) for those substances currently under review by the agency.”

Further, any “EPA final action on MCCPs and LCCPs does not appear on either EPA’s semi-annual regulatory agenda or the Obama Administration’s ‘short list’ of actions to be completed” before the current U.S. president’s term ends on January 20, 2017.