DTSC Receives Federal Grant to Develop Alternatives Assessment Guidance

November 13, 2014
Ann Grimaldi

On November 13, 2014, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control announced that it received a $105,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop guidance for the alternatives assessments required under the California Safer Consumer Products Regulations. According to DTSC, the guidance will be “the most comprehensive in the nation.” DTSC, with an industry partner, also plans conduct a pilot alternatives assessment to “test drive” the guidance once it is developed.

Alternatives assessments are required for products designated by DTSC as Priority Products under the Safer Consumer Products Regulations. Earlier this year, DTSC released a draft Priority Products list and received extensive public comments on it. DTSC is expected to release a revised Priority Products list in a formal rulemaking proceeding in early 2015. That rulemaking process may take as long as a year to finalize.

Ann Grimaldi

Ms. Grimaldi maintains a diverse environmental law practice focusing on chemical and product regulation and litigation defense. Her practice areas include Proposition 65, California's Safer Consumer Products Regulations, California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Act and the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Ms. Grimaldi graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law magna cum laude and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Bacteriology from University of California, Davis. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a research assistant in laboratories at the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Research Institute and at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.