From Inside PFAS Policy

PEER Touts Recycling Trade Group’s Rejection Of PFAS-Laden Containers

Environmentalists are touting a recent move by a plastics recycling industry trade group deeming PFAS-containing plastic packaging as unrecyclable under a California labeling law, arguing it is an indirect action that incentivizes the phase-out of PFAS-containing products and packaging amid a slow EPA response on fluorinated containers. In a Nov. 5 press release , Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) noted an October decision by the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) to halt the review of new and existing applications...

Georgia Plaintiffs Seek To Consolidate PFAS Suits Amid Judge’s Doubts

Georgia citizens and environmentalists are urging a federal district court to consolidate their respective PFAS contamination suits against utility and industry defendants, arguing that their cases are largely similar and consolidation would save judicial resources, but the judge has previously signaled her skepticism at such efforts. The pair of suits , pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, test whether the Superfund law or the Clean Water Act (CWA) should govern the cleanup of land...

Judge Pauses CERCLA Cost Recovery Cases In AFFF MDL, Citing Shutdown

The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) governing PFAS firefighting foam contamination has granted the United States’ request to stay 22 Superfund cases brought against it by local governments until the federal shutdown ends and the Justice Department’s (DOJ) funding is resumed. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina Oct. 31 granted a motion by the U.S. government to stay action in the cases due to the lapse in funding for DOJ that began...

EPA, Agencies Grapple With Questions Over Low PFAS Levels In Soil

EPA is wrestling with how to address low concentrations of PFAS in soil at sites wanting to further develop, as other federal departments and state regulatory agencies are starting to focus on determining background levels of the ubiquitous class of chemicals in soil. In a speech to state waste managers last week, Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s waste office, raised questions about how regulators should deal with low concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soil,...

Group Disputes Chemours’ Charge Of Broad Impact From PFAS Injunction

Environmentalists are urging the 4th Circuit to preserve a lower court injunction that requires chemical manufacturer Chemours to comply with its PFAS permit limits when discharging into the Ohio River, pushing back on the defendants’ argument that the Clean Water Act (CWA) allows plaintiffs to obtain injunctive relief automatically for every violation. “Chemours insists that the district court improperly assumed that a CWA permit violation automatically establishes sufficient harm for standing,” West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) says in an Oct...

PEER Petitions EPA To Walk Back Claims That PFOA Has Been Phased Out

Environmentalists are petitioning EPA to drop statements from its website that claim that chemical manufacturers have phased out the production of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a legacy PFAS, arguing in a just-filed data quality petition that the compound is still being found in fluorinated plastic containers at the heart of long-running litigation. “It is the height of hypocrisy for EPA to pretend these chemicals are no longer being manufactured when they are permeating our chain of commerce,” said Kyla Bennett, science...

States Ask High Court To Review Venue For PFAS Contamination Suits

Maryland and South Carolina are urging the Supreme Court to review and reverse an appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS suits from state to federal court, charging that the appellate court broadened what qualifies as a federally directed action and failed to credit the states’ disclaimers that they would not recover for PFAS from firefighting foam. The case, if reviewed by the Supreme Court, is likely to impact a host of other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

White House Clears Proposal Expected To Ease PFAS Reporting Burdens

The White House has completed its interagency review of EPA’s proposed rule that is expected to scale back reporting on PFAS-containing products, potentially easing the burden on manufacturers by introducing exemptions for certain uses that would decrease overall reporting costs. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) cleared the proposed rule, “Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Data Reporting and Recordkeeping under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Revision to Regulation,” on Oct. 24, after it was submitted Aug...

Local Officials Resist U.S. Push To Stay MDL Review Of CERCLA Claims

Local governments and the state of New Mexico are resisting Justice Department (DOJ) efforts to stay consideration of Superfund cost claims against the federal government for remediating PFAS from firefighting foam in multidistrict litigation (MDL), testing plaintiffs’ ability to rely on the Superfund law in pursuing timely cleanups. In an Oct. 23 brief filed in the MDL, nearly two dozen plaintiffs with claims for cost recovery or contribution under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) oppose the...

PFAS Face Uncertain Prospects In EPA Plan To Prioritize AI Chemical Reviews

Despite the Trump EPA’s announcement that it would prioritize TSCA reviews for new chemicals related to artificial intelligence (AI) and data center projects, questions remain about whether more PFAS, particularly fluoropolymers that are often used in semiconductor production, would benefit from the new prioritization. “What we don’t know is what new chemicals there are,” Lenny Siegel, a member of CHIPS Communities United, a coalition of unions, environmentalists and community groups seeking a responsible and equitable semiconductor industry, told Inside PFAS...

Lawmakers Urge DOD To Revert To Faster 2024 PFAS Cleanup Schedule

Dozens of House lawmakers are urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to discard an updated timetable that would delay PFAS cleanups at 140 sites and instead commit to a faster schedule as reflected in a 2024 plan, while questioning the top Pentagon official on the reason behind the slowdown and the lack of transparency over the changes. In an Oct. 22 letter to Hegseth, 36 House members also press DOD to speed cleanups at sites where investigations should have already taken...

Newsom Veto Triggers Debate Over How To Regulate Products With PFAS

Industry and environmental groups are at odds over how to regulate PFAS in products after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill banning the chemicals from cookware and several other product categories, with industry arguing the state’s green chemistry program should lead the way while environmentalists strongly disagree. “Let’s be clear: the Department of Toxic Substances Control [DTSC] first needs to execute the risk-categorization process that has been in statute since 2008 instead of creating further uncertainty with one-off...

Absent Federal Policy, Key Democrat Sees Ongoing State PFAS Patchwork

Despite significant industry concerns, the state patchwork of regulations tackling PFAS contamination from consumer products is “going to be the defining feature of PFAS regulation over the next decade,” a key House Democrat says, especially given slim prospects for a unified federal approach from EPA or Congress. “I understand that industry gets heartburn about a patchwork of state policies,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said during an Oct. 22 event, “Chemistry Solutions Forum,” in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Chamber...

Waterkeeper Seeks FOIA Records On EPA’s SDWA PFAS Rule Changes

Environmentalists are questioning EPA’s transparency in its decision to delay and partially rescind landmark drinking water limits for several PFAS, filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking a range of records related to its planned rule changes, including a stalled risk assessment that may undercut agency efforts to ease the limits. Waterkeeper Alliance Oct. 21 filed a FOIA request with EPA asking for records from Jan. 20 to the present related to the agency’s drinking water rule for...

Parties Settle Novel Prop. 65 Suit Against Chrome Platers’ PFAS Discharges

Environmentalists are settling their novel Proposition 65 lawsuit that alleges two chrome-plating firms unlawfully discharged PFAS into drinking water sources, settlements that rely on the law’s rarely used prohibition on unlawful discharges to win soon-to-be-released agreements. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) “will be settling with Teikuro Corp. in the next few weeks and mediating with Electro-Coatings of California later this month,” according to an attorney representing environmentalists. “I can’t disclose yet, but hopefully we’ll have a signed agreement with...

Key House Democrat Presses Zeldin On Delayed PFNA Risk Assessment

A key House Democratic appropriator is pressing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to release a delayed risk assessment for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), a long-chain PFAS linked to developmental harms, questioning its delay this spring at the same time Zeldin moved to rescind drinking water limits for PFNA and other PFAS. “The delay in issuing the PFNA report coincided with EPA’s decision, in May of this year, to rescind some PFAS Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, one of which happens to be...

IPI Seeks To Bolster PFAS Research, Fearing Studies Underestimate Effects

A progressive think tank is urging federal and state policymakers to pursue research into both non-legacy PFAS compounds as well as exposure pathways other than drinking water, raising concerns that existing studies underestimate the significant economic and other impacts from the chemicals and prohibit a class-based approach to regulations. “By addressing these research gaps, policymakers will be better equipped to conduct robust cost-benefit analyses, leading to more informed and effective regulations that minimize the economic and societal burden of PFAS...

In Win For Industry, Newsom Vetoes Bill Banning PFAS In Cookware

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) veto of a bill that would have banned PFAS from cookware and several other product categories marks a win for industry groups that sought the veto after failing to prevent several other states from adopting similar prohibitions. Newsom on Oct. 13 vetoed SB 682, which sought to ban PFAS from five consumer product categories starting in 2028 and from cookware products beginning in 2030, citing concerns that the measure would trigger a shortage of affordable...

Senate Clears Defense Bill Echoing House Plan For Faster PFAS Cleanups

The Senate has approved its fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill with language that echoes House provisions for expediting PFAS cleanups at military sites, but lawmakers face a conference debate on Senate language that lifts a ban on Defense Department (DOD) procurement of certain items containing PFAS and repeals a temporary incineration ban for the chemicals. The Senate Oct. 9 approved S. 2296, the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), in a 77-20 vote after the bill had been stalled...

EPA Adds PFHxS Salt To TRI Reporting List, Following IRIS Toxicity Value

EPA is adding another PFAS to the list of chemicals that regulated facilities must report to the agency under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program, as part of an automatic update to the inventory required by law after the agency completes a toxicity value for the chemical or undertakes certain other regulatory activities. The agency’s Oct. 7 addition of sodium perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS-Na) to the TRI means regulated entities must now report 206 PFAS though facilities will not begin tracking their...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Request 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.