External Meeting Request Form for Administrator E. Scott Pruitt U.S. Environmental Protection Agency To request the Administrator to attend and/or speak at your event, please complete and submit the following form. Today's Date: May 4, 2017 Meeting Date: May 15, 2017 Meeting Time: 2:15p.m. Requested Location (if offsite, please list address, parking instructions, etc.): Administrator Pruitt's DC office Requestor: The Chemours Company Purpose of the Meeting: • • • • • Introduce Chemours to the Administrator Express Chemours' support for the Administrator's leadership of EPA. Share what Chemours is doing to put American innovation to work to create global, market-leading product opportunities, which support new U.S. manufacturing investments and jobs. Share Chemours' desire to see EPA maintain consistency vis-a-vis HFCs in order to help protect U.S. leadership in this space and protect significant new U.S. investments the company has made in reliance on previous EPA policy decisions. Share Chemours' desire to see EPA implement the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act in a fair, efficient, and reasonable manner, consistent with the new law and Congressional intent. Background on the Meeting: The Chemours Company commenced business as a stand-alone, publicly-traded corporation on July 1, 2015, after being separated from DuPont via a spin-off to DuPont shareholders. At its inception, Chemours was comprised of the former DuPont Chemical Solutions, Fluoroproducts and Titanium Technologies businesses. Chemours corporate headquarters and global innovation center are both located in Wilmington, DE. The company has approximately 7,000 employees globally, with more than 5,000 of those workers based in the United States. 25 of the company's 35 production facilities are located in the United States. I. Refrigerants The Chemours Fluoroproducts business has a nearly 90-year history of innovation creating products that have provided critical societal services such as refrigeration, air conditioning, insulation, fire suppression, personal care products and medical applications while constantly improving the safety of these applications. That pioneering innovation continues today with a new generation of products that provide enhanced environmental sustainability and superior performance across a variety of applications while as "drop-ins" or near drop-in substitutes for existing or slightly modified equipment. These new alternatives were designed to meet market demand and the requirements of a growing number of international ED_001338 _ 00000350-00001 NRDCvEPA_17cv05928_0000008 regulations like Japan's high global warming potential (GWP) hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) reduction regulations, the European Union's Fluorinated Gas Regulations, and existing domestic regulations. New refrigerants represent a multi-billion dollar industry in which the United States has a clear advantage in the international marketplace. For example, all auto manufacturers in North America and the European Union have announced plans to convert their light-duty vehicle air conditioning systems to low-GWP refrigerants. Chemours has responded to this demand by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the development of new refrigerants such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs). These refrigerants provide automobile manufacturers with a low-cost alternative to meeting light-duty vehicle standards that are already being implemented in the United States. Importantly, Chemours has also made parallel investments that will create additional American manufacturing and commercial jobs. For example, in May 2016, the company announced that it will invest approximately $250 million to construct a new HFO production facility at the Chemours Corpus Christi site in Ingleside, TX. American Innovation and Investment Chemours has invested (and continues to invest) hundreds of millions of dollars in the development and commercialization of zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and very low GWP alternatives. This includes significant investment in new technology and significant production capacity in the United States, which has resulted in the creation of hundreds of jobs for Chemours, Chemours suppliers and the communities that support our new product portfolio development and production. • • • • • • • This commitment includes a world-class R&D center in Wilmington DE, for product and process development and significant manufacturing footprints in Corpus Christi, TX (new capacity) and Houston, TX, Louisville, KY; and Deepwater, NJ (existing product capacity). Chemours provides communities with high-paying jobs and associated top-shelf benefits. Chemours Fluorochemicals business employs more than 2,000 in the United States, with 125 employees currently assigned full-time to the development, production and commercialization of these new products. 50 out of 65 new permanent jobs at the Corpus Christi plant have been filled to operate the new facility, and approximately 300 additional positions will be added by suppliers and at businesses in the surrounding community to support this effort. In addition, Chemours currently employs 300 American contractors to build the new facility in Corpus Christi, Texas using American construction materials. Chemours and other American companies hold a significant patent portfolio globally for next generation replacement products. This is the outcome of hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and more than a decade of development. Many non-U.S. competitors chose not to make those investments because of the significant cost and the risk that the investment would never pay off. Now that these alternatives are in demand, global competitors are actively seeking to commercialize these products, potentially infringing on intellectual property of others, to enter this attractive market. Continued American Leadership is Needed Without leadership from the United States to compete vigorously to succeed in this segment, global competitors can quickly move into position to lead the HFC replacement industry. • For example, the Chinese may want to leverage their natural resources/supply (fluorspar) and have already started producing HFOs domestically. They are also developing core manufacturing ED_001338_00000350-00002 NRDCvEPA_17cv05928_0000009 capabilities that they can leverage in the future. This strategy could increase challenges to U.S. company intellectual property rights abroad and encourage the exercise of domestic protectionism. It could also result in counterfeit products being shipped into the United States and other regulated markets. • • • In fact, there have been two affirmative rulings in HFC anti-dumping cases recently, outlining unfair dumping by Chinese companies of HFCs into the United States. This behavior has caused significant injury to the U.S. industry forcing American companies to either exit business or participate at or below the cost of manufacture. In addition, in less developed countries, like China, companies have announced plans to commercialize alternative refrigerants. Without U.S. leadership and support for domestic technologies, these foreign-based alternatives to U.S. technologies could gain support, displacing our "first mover" advantage in international markets. At the same time, some environmental NGOs oppose some of the technically proven options developed by American companies. U.S. regulations are technically neutral and allow for the use and further development of fluorochemicals and so-called "natural" refrigerant solutions by American companies. Organizations like Greenpeace and Europe-based Shecco promote the use of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, ammonia, water and air as the only viable solutions for many applications, including refrigerants. While these options may indeed be preferred for some uses and equipment types, in many cases they are significantly more expensive for equipment manufacturers to implement than HFO solutions, and, in some cases, have poor energy performance, higher operating costs, and severe safety risks Therefore, continued U.S. leadership and engagement is needed to ensure a level playing field and fair consideration of all options. Policy Recommendations: II. • Continuity of the current regulatory structure managing fluorochemicals is critical as American companies continue to invest hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars in new technologies that will be used in the United States and around the world as other countries continue to regulate this space. • Continued EPA Funding is also needed for the Office of Air and Radiation for the approval of volatile organic compound (VOC) exemptions for fluorochemicals and for the Stratospheric Ozone Division Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program to approve new products and provide continued support to industry to ensure that new technologies can successfully enter the market. Other countries rely on EPA SNAP program approvals to allow the use of American patented products. TSCA Implementation Chemours was one of a number of chemical companies that strongly advocated for modernizing and improving the Toxic Substances Control Act via the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act, the bi-partisan legislation that was signed into law in 2016. Implementation of the law is an EPA priority, and Chemours is fully committed to working with EPA to achieve that goal. • Chemours believes that fair and balanced implementation of the LCSA should: o Fully address the significant scientific principles and standards embedded in the statute; o Adopt workable, pragmatic processes in regulatory implementation- particularly to look to simple processes where those achieve Congressional intent; o Build public and industry confidence in EPA's ability to evaluate the safety of the products of chemistry efficiently and effectively through TSCA, especially for the new chemicals program; ED_001338_00000350-00003 NRDCvEPA_17cv05928_000001 0 • • • • • Encourage technological innovation and globally competitive chemical industry through the strong protection of confidential business information. Chemours' most significant concern, to date, is with EPA's implementation of the modest changes to Section 5- the new chemicals program. Chemours believes that Section 5 was working well before the LCSA was enacted. LCSA's new chemicals provisions require EPA to "show its work" and demonstrate it has sufficient information to make a decision on a new chemical. It also codified EPA's practice of considering potential exposures to new chemicals. LCSA did not change the legal standard for review. Since enactment, the New Chemicals Program has experienced significant backlogs that jeopardize innovation and the competitive position of U.S. chemical companies. More than 500 new chemical applications are still pending, including many submitted before LCSA was enacted. The rate of new chemical approvals is down significantly from prior practice. Chemours believes the New Chemicals Program must reach a point where the vast majority (90%+) of pre-manufacture notices are addressed within the statutory review period (90 days, with a possible extension of 90 days). Chemours has been pleased to see EPA, under the leadership of the new Administrator, begin to take steps to remedy the implementation problems in Section 5. Role of the Administrator: • • • Strong leadership of EPA to deliver on its core mission of protecting human health and the environment and, at the same time, promote U.S. investment and job creation via responsible environmental policies and regulations. Policy consistency on HFCs to promote and protect U.S. leadership, investments and job creation. Prompt and fair implementation of the LCSA. Attendees: 1. 2. 3. 4. Mark Vergnano, Chief Executive Officer, Chemours; Greg Smith, Director- Government Affairs, Chemours; Eddie Johnston, Manager- Federal Government Affairs, Chemours; and Rich Gold, Partner, Holland & Knight. Point of Contact: Greg Smith, Director- Government Affairs The Chemours Company ~--·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·~ i Ex. 6 - Personal Privacy i 'i-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-·-j' ED_001338_00000350-00004 NRDCvEPA_17cv05928_0000011