By SHEILA CANAVAN
United State Environmental Protection Agency

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking nominations from individuals who represent small businesses, small governments and small not-for-profit organizations to provide input to a federal panel that will explore risk reduction in the use of trichloroethylene.

This panel will focus on the agency’s development of a proposed rule to reduce the risks resulting from the use of TCE as a commercial degreaser, as a spotting agent in dry cleaning, and in certain consumer products as appropriate to reduce risks posed from its commercial and consumer use.

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to establish a Small Business Advocacy Review panel for rules that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The SBAR panel will include federal representatives from the Small Business Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and EPA.

Small Entity Representatives will be selected by the SBAR Panel to provide comments on behalf of their company, community or organization and advise the panel about the potential impacts of the proposed rule on small entities. EPA is seeking self-nominations directly from the small entities that may be subject to the rule requirements. Other representatives, such as trade associations that exclusively or primarily represent potentially regulated small entities, may also serve as SERs.

SERs provide advice and recommendations to the panel. The SERs participate in consultations with the SBAR Panel via telephone, webinar, or in person in one or two meetings and are given an opportunity to submit written comments to the Panel. Self-nominations may be submitted through the link below and must be received by Friday, April 10.

Nominate yourself as a Small Entity Representatives:http://www.epa.gov/rfa/tsca-6a-tce.html

More about the Small Business Advocacy Review process: http://www.epa.gov/rfa/index.html