AHFA's Counts Testifies on Proposed Formaldehyde Legislation

March 21, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Green on March 22, 2010

Andy Counts, chief executive officer of the American Home Furnishings Alliance, told a House subcommittee on Thursday that adequate compliance timelines and sell-through provisions will be critical elements in proposed legislation to regulate formaldehyde emissions from all composite wood products sold in the United States.

AHFA supports the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Product Act, introduced by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), on March 10. The bill would take elements of California's formaldehyde emission standard and make them a federal rule. The emission limits imposed would be the lowest in the world. They would apply to all hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard and particleboard sold, supplied, offered for sale or manufactured in the United States.

AHFA, along with the wood products industry, worked for more than seven years with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to establish those formaldehyde emission limits. However, there are several aspects of the California rule that cannot be implemented nationally, Counts told the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, which is reviewing the proposed legislation.

"Due to the unprecedented economic conditions of the last few years, inventory levels remain high," Counts told legislators. "Unlike in California, where non-compliant inventories could be moved to other markets, adequate sell-through provisions are needed nationally to accommodate increased inventories and slow inventory turns."

Counts requested a sell-through period of 36 months for finished goods following the compliance deadline for composite wood products.  

"It is important to note that the California formaldehyde standard and the national standard proposed under H.R. 4805 regulate emissions from composite wood products and not the finished products that contain composite wood components," Counts continued, and that the value-added steps associated with finished products, such as lamination and finishing, will, in fact, lower the formaldehyde emissions.

Counts recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency focus its compliance and enforcement efforts at the point of manufacture and process control.

"The regulation should not contain any provisions for the testing of finished goods, such as furniture or cabinets," he said. "If the raw board component parts are properly regulated, downstream users of these products will be required to purchase them, and to only use or resell these safe products to consumers."

Counts told the subcommittee that AHFA was prepared to educate the industry on the new national standard and would provide the tools necessary to ensure compliance on a global basis.