[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          BRING COMMON SENSE TO THE REGULATION OF ANIMAL FATS

                                 ______


                           HON. JILL L. LONG

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Ms. LONG. Mr. Speaker, for almost 2 years now, I and a number of my 
colleagues in the House and the Senate have been working hard to bring 
common sense and reason to the regulation of animal fats and vegetable 
oils. We succeeded in passing language twice in the House and once in 
the Senate that would have required regulatory agencies to 
differentiate between nontoxic animal fats and vegetable oils and toxic 
petroleum and nonpetroleum oils when writing oil spill regulations. The 
legislation would not have exempted the animal fats and vegetable oil 
industries from regulation; it merely would require agencies to 
establish a separate category and separate regulations for these 
industries. Unfortunately, we have run out of time to reconcile the two 
versions of the bill, and this issue will go unresolved in the 103d 
Congress.
  Even more unfortunately, final EPA regulations that classify 
vegetable oils and animal fats with toxic oils go into effect in 
February, 1995. EPA is reviewing its regulations, but that process will 
not be complete until long after the final rule goes into effect. Final 
rules are also pending at other agencies. Without quick congressional 
action, processors and transporters of these edible, nontoxic materials 
will be forced to comply with rules and regulations designed and 
developed for toxic substances. Not only will this impose undue costs 
on the animal fats and vegetable oils industries, it could also damage 
consumers' perceptions of these products.
  Congressman Tom Ewing, who has worked with me on this issue, has 
agreed to carry this legislation forward in the next Congress. I urge 
my colleagues to support his efforts to bring a reasoned and 
commonsense approach to an issue that has become a symbol of our 
country's sometimes illogical regulatory process.

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