NPCA Annual Meeting – citing “Proliferation of Regulations”,Association announces launch of AIM VOC policy initiative

Citation

(2005), "NPCA Annual Meeting – citing “Proliferation of Regulations”,Association announces launch of AIM VOC policy initiative", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 34 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2005.12934bab.009

NPCA Annual Meeting – citing “Proliferation of Regulations”,Association announces launch of AIM VOC policy initiative

NPCA Annual Meeting – citing “Proliferation of Regulations”,Association announces launch of AIM VOC policy initiative

Keywords: Coatings technology, Environmental health and safety

In response to a mounting “proliferation of regulations” aimed at limiting the VOC content of architectural and industrial maintenance coatings, the NPCA last week announced the launch of a new, multi-pronged initiative to deal with the situation.

Addressing the opening session of the NPCA's Annual Meeting in Chicago, association President Andy Doyle announced the creation of a new “AIM VOC Policy Committee” that will lead a lobbying campaign and direct efforts to conduct a comprehensive assessment of formulation technology. The initiative could go as far as an effort to seek “pre- emptive” action by the US Congress, Doyle said.

“Although we have enjoyed some important success in this area, year after year our industry has been forced to fight a seemingly endless battle against ever more restrictive regulations,” Doyle told those in attendance at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago. Under the new AIM VOC Policy Committee, headed by Pete Flood of The Flood Co., Doyle said the NPCA initially will focus on a lobbying campaign targeting the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD).

The district “has been particularly aggressive in initiating and enforcing compliance with their regulations,” he said.

The committee also will assist the association in carrying out a comprehensive assessment of current formulation technology, and will “explore the possibility of seeking a national, pre-emptive solution in Congress,” Doyle said. He said the NPCA “is prepared to do what is necessary” to lessen the impact of new VOC limits “and bring some rationality to the regulation on AIM products nationwide.”

The launch of the AIM VOC initiative ranked among the major stories to emerge during the NPCA Annual Meeting, which also featured a program that addressed important industry and business issues such as raw-material price and supply trends, e-business developments, doing business in China, and outsourcing. Highlights also included an incisive and thought-provoking keynote address by the noted foreign-affairs authority Robert Kagan, and an election forecast and analysis by the political commentator Stuart Rothenberg.