The Manufactured Housing Association for Regulatory Reform (MHARR) tells MHProNews that it has formally called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw certification requirements contained in its December 2016 Formaldehyde Emissions Standards for Composite Wood Products rule. MHARR contends the rule discriminates against manufactured housing and manufactured housing producers.
The call came from MHARR President and CEO Mark Weiss, JD, during a May 1st meeting in Washington DC, convened by the EPA to solicit comments from parties on a new rulemaking docket concerning regulations adopted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and other laws that could be “repealed, replaced, or modified to make them less burdensome” in accordance with Executive Order (EO) 13777 issued by President Trump on February 24, 2017.
“We’re calling for the elimination of certification requirements for finished goods included in the final rule, which apply to manufactured housing producers but expressly exempt site-builders using the same materials,” said Weiss.
MHARR was the only manufactured housing industry organization to participate in the meeting and address the formaldehyde rule specifically in relation to manufactured homes.
MHARR also noted that the final formaldehyde rule published by EPA (during the last days of the Obama Administration) was significantly different from the proposed rule, published on June 10, 2013. In essence, the original rule stated that both manufactured homes and site-built homes would have been deemed “finished goods,” and subject to the certification requirements applicable.
In contrast, under the final rule, only manufactured homes and manufactured homebuilders are subject to those certification requirements and related regulatory compliance costs.
“EPA’s discriminatory imposition of ‘finished good’ certification requirements on manufactured home builders while exempting site-builders from those same requirements, is both baseless and arbitrary, as even a cursory reading of the underlying statute shows. And that is without even getting into the procedural gymnastics used by EPA to change the final rule based on a re-opening of the public comment period to address – supposedly – a completely unrelated issue,” said Weiss.
“With new leadership at EPA, though, and with President Trump’s regulatory Executive Orders, the industry will have an opportunity to seek changes to the rule to reduce the regulatory burdens imposed on the industry and the millions of lower and moderate-income American families that rely on affordable, non-subsidized manufactured housing.”
The full release from MHARR is linked here. ##
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Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
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