The Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee is slated to hold a hearing tomorrow to look at the effectiveness of furniture flammability standards and flame retardant chemicals.

The hearing follows a series of stories from the Chicago Tribune that examined the high levels of toxic flame retardants in American homes as well as the industry interests that put them there (Greenwire, May 7).

Following the series, subcommittee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wrote to U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum asking for action.

"The Tribune investigation makes it clear that this life-threatening issue has been swamped by self-serving chemical companies and lack of aggressive oversight by our government," Durbin wrote in both letters.

The lawmaker also wrote to Underwriters Laboratories Inc., the suburban Chicago-based safety group, asking for the results of studies that examine the use of flame retardant chemicals as well as any recommendations for reducing furniture flammability.

After the Tribune investigation, Durbin also announced his support for Sen. Frank Lautenberg's (D-N.J.) "Safe Chemicals Act" (S. 847), which would overhaul the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (E&E Daily, May 15).

Schedule: The hearing is Tuesday, July 17, at 2:30 p.m. in 138 Dirksen.

Witnesses: Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum; U.S. EPA acting Assistant Administrator Jim Jones; Underwriters Laboratories Senior Vice President and Public Safety Officer August Schaefer; American Home Furnishings Alliance CEO Andy Counts; and Peter Van Dorpe, chief of the Chicago Fire Department's Training Division.