On February 16 a California federal trial judge recently declared unlawful and vacated the December 2018 compliance deadline for the Formaldehyde Rule governing composite wood products. 

Earlier this week EPA published a prepublication notice on the proposed “correlation” rule allowing TPC the use of small chambers to test formaldehyde emission levels. 

KCMA, in conjunction with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Wood Products Association (IWPA), filed an Amicus Brief last week in the Sierra Club v. Pruitt litigation.

On Friday, December 1, the International Trade Commission (ITC) delivered its final ruling in the Hardwood Plywood anti-dumping and countervailing duties case.

Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, has filed a lawsuit against EPA Administrator Pruitt in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California San Francisco Division to require U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to adhere to the earlier December 12, 2017, deadline for compliance with the Formaldehyde Emissions Standards for Composite Wood Rule. 

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) posted an outreach guidance Sept. 29 about the relationship between the CARB formaldehyde rule and the EPA formaldehyde rule, indicating that manufacturers can use a statement such as “TSCA Title VI compliant” to comply with the CARB rule.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a direct final rule Oct. 25 to update several voluntary consensus standards in the rule governing Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products.

EPA published a direct final rule (82 FR 31922) and a proposed rule (82 FR 31932) in Tuesday's Federal Register. These rules intend to delete Section 770.45(f), which would prohibit voluntary labeling of composite wood products or finished goods made entirely of composite wood products manufactured before the regulatory manufactured-by date. 

Upon publication of the preliminary countervailing duty (CVD) determination in the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will require importers to post either a 9.89% or a 111.09% deposit on imports of hardwood plywood from China.

Check out KCMA's special section in the March issue of Woodworking Network/FDMC Magazine! With help from our wonderful members, we sat down with Woodworking Network to discuss everything KCMA.