American Chemistry Council (ACC): Let Chemistry Create, so America Can Compete

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is urgently calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to reverse the growing trend of regulatory overreach. It has launched “Chemistry Creates, America Competes” to help the Biden Administration and Congress understand that American success relies on American Chemistry.

“President Biden and his administration need to understand how vital chemistry is to the supply chain when it comes to making the things America and the world can’t live without. Computer chips, medicines, housing, infrastructure, and energy are all made possible by America’s chemical industry,” said ACC president and CEO Chris Jahn.

“Unfortunately, a surge in unduly restrictive regulations and a lack of coordination in the Biden Administration is putting it all at risk,” added Jahn. “That’s why we are launching ‘Chemistry Creates, America Competes.’ It couldn’t be more straightforward. Chemistry creates jobs. Chemistry creates innovations. Chemistry creates the products and technologies America, and the world, needs every day. If we allow Chemistry to create, then America competes on the global stage.”

New proposed restrictions could limit access to, and significantly increase the cost of, essential products, harming the U.S. economy, jeopardizing American competitiveness in the global market, and delaying progress for industries and sectors with urgent and growing needs.

Some of these proposed restrictions aim to outright ban certain chemistries or regulate them at such low levels that manufacturing becomes virtually impossible. These restrictions could have a detrimental impact on the supply chain for vital technologies and essential everyday products that families and businesses rely on, including semiconductors, renewable energy applications, and modern healthcare products.

As part of “Chemistry Creates, America Competes,” ACC and its members are calling for:
• The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to be empowered to do its job and evaluate all significant rulemaking through the lens of potential impacts to the supply chain, trade, national security, energy, climate, healthcare, infrastructure, technology (e.g., chips/EVs), etc.
• Someone to be assigned inside the Administration, preferably the White House, with economic expertise who can objectively assess the impact of proposed regulations on the supply chain and the ability to achieve national goals.
• Congress to exercise its oversight authority and examine how overly conservative regulations could cut off access to products and technologies needed to support American-made energy, vehicles, infrastructure, healthcare, semiconductors, etc.
• And, if necessary, Congress to consider legislation to improve the regulatory process, streamline permits, and focus regulations on more flexible, smart, science-based policy approaches.

“President Biden talks on the one hand about reshoring U.S. manufacturing; on the other hand, his federal agencies are taking actions that will stop that from happening,” continued Jahn. “This regulatory overload threatens to offshore jobs, production, and supply chains by weakening the ability of the United States to compete with international rivals – such as China. Unless the Biden Administration and Congress take a different approach to how they create and apply regulations, critical chemistries will suffer—and the U.S. supply chain and important products chemistry supports will suffer as well.”

Americans understand the value of the chemical sector, and at least two-thirds of adults both nationally and across battleground states believe the chemical sector is essential to the Biden Administration’s priorities. A survey by Morning Consult on behalf of ACC found that:
• 63% of Americans believe additional restrictions on chemical manufacturers would likely impact the U.S. economy.
• 59% of Americans agree that additional restrictions on the chemical sector proposed by the EPA are an example of regulatory overload.
• 69% of Americans feel strongly that EPA should do more to ensure the restrictions they impose don’t do harm to the U.S. economy.

“We’re calling on the Biden Administration, EPA, and other agencies to work with us—not against us—to keep strong risk-based protections in place and Americans safe without banning chemistries outright or regulating them at such low levels American manufacturing is hindered,” said Kimberly Wise White, ACC VP, regulatory and scientific affairs. “All federal agencies, must be willing to come to the table, put science first, and develop rules and regulations that protect health and the environment without stifling innovation and weakening supply chain resiliency.”