From Inside PFAS Policy

EPA Asks Court For Fifth Delay In Suit Challenging PFAS CERCLA Rule

The Trump EPA is again asking the D.C. Circuit to delay litigation in a case brought by industry challenging the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, the fifth such request the agency has made as officials say they still need more time to evaluate how to proceed in the litigation. “EPA’s new leadership is currently still in the process of reviewing the issues presented in this case, evaluating the Rule within the broader...

Draft MAHA Plan Sidesteps PFAS Advice, Seeks To Ease Pesticide Policy

A draft strategy from the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission appears to sidestep calls for addressing PFAS while proposing to ease EPA policies governing pesticides and farm operations, a move that is sparking criticism from environmentalists who say it marks a turnabout from the panel’s initial report. The draft strategy , required by President Donald Trump’s executive order creating the panel, follows a May MAHA assessment that identified four potential drivers behind an increase in childhood chronic...

MAHA Backers Warn Of Fallout For GOP Over PFAS Biosolids Measure

Supporters of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement are pressing President Donald Trump to oppose a measure included in FY26 House spending legislation that would bar EPA from acting on a Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids. In an Aug. 11 letter to the president, as well as EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, they warn of potential political repercussions for Republicans in the...

Environmentalists Press MAHA Panel To Stem Range Of PFAS Exposures

Environmentalists are petitioning the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) Commission to take action to restrict PFAS exposure from biosolid applications, fluorination in plastic containers and pesticides use, contending the administration’s talk about addressing PFAS does not match its actions to date. The purpose of the petition -- sent Aug. 13 to MAHA Commission Chair and Health & Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. -- is to point out the hypocrisy of administration officials on the per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Chemours Appeals Order Requiring Immediate PFAS Discharge Reductions

PFAS manufacturer Chemours is appealing a federal court’s order requiring the company to immediately reduce its discharges of a next-generation PFAS to comply with its wastewater discharge permit, after the judge reinforced the court’s authority to grant preliminary injunctive relief to citizens seeking to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Aug. 12 docketed Chemours’ petition seeking review of Judge Joseph Goodwin’s Aug. 7 order in West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) v....

States Ready Supreme Court Petition To Review PFAS Venue Decision

South Carolina and Maryland are planning to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, opening the door to a legal reckoning over whether defendants will be able to keep such suits in federal court where they can raise the government contractor defense. As such, if Maryland and South Carolina succeed, it could allow several other states to keep their similar claims against 3M and other...

D.C. Circuit Sets Sept. 10 Deadline To File Motions In PFAS SDWA Case

The D.C. Circuit is requiring EPA and other parties in litigation challenging the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits to file motions to govern future proceedings by Sept. 10, actions that will likely clarify how the Trump EPA will proceed with its proposed changes to the landmark PFAS regulation. According to an Aug. 7 order in the consolidated American Water Works Association, et al. v. EPA , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit orders “that the parties file...

PFAS Receivers Press EPA To Issue Biosolids Guide, Revise Assessment

A group representing PFAS receivers, such as wastewater utilities and landfills, is urging EPA to issue interim guidance on the land application of biosolids to combat the uncertainty it says the agency’s draft risk assessment for two PFAS in biosolids has caused, arguing it would also give EPA more time to appropriately revise the risk assessment. “The absence of any risk management analysis contextualizing the Draft Risk Assessment--which EPA has historically completed at the same time as its completion of...

States Wrestle With Uncertainty As Trump EPA Reworks SDWA PFAS Rule

The Trump EPA’s efforts to rescind and alter aspects of the Biden-era PFAS drinking water rule is leaving states in a tough spot, disrupting their efforts to implement the rule’s looming monitoring deadlines as well as some states’ efforts to seek primacy to implement the regulation. The “top line to me gets down to regulatory uncertainty,” one state source says. At issue are the Trump EPA’s plans to pare back aspects of the 2024 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule...

Setting National Model, New Jersey Inks $2 Billion PFAS Cleanup Deal

New Jersey has reached a landmark proposed settlement valued at over $2 billion with DuPont and related entities over longstanding PFAS contamination, setting what officials say is the largest environmental settlement achieved by a single state and one that will continue the Garden State’s “nation-leading” PFAS abatement efforts. “The companies have agreed to fully clean up contamination at four New Jersey sites and to pay $875 million in natural resource and other damages to the State for the harm that...

EPA Signals It May Revisit Science Behind PFAS Biosolids Risk Assessment

The Trump EPA is signaling it may revisit the science underlying the Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids, according to slides presented during recent listening sessions the agency held with states, the wastewater sector and other stakeholders, in a first sign of whether or how it will pursue sludge disposal rules. “The EPA is seeking feedback from potentially impacted stakeholders -- states, the wastewater sector, and the agricultural sector -- to better understand stakeholder views and...

Air Force, New Mexico Escalate Dispute Over Cannon AFB PFAS Cleanup

New Mexico’s top environmental regulator says the Air Force appears to be escalating its dispute with the state over PFAS contamination at an air base, sidelining state inspectors and seeking changes in court venue as state officials again seek to oversee the cleanup through litigation bolstered by a new state law regulating PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The Air Force appears to be testing that new law, in what New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary James Kenney says are actions inconsistent with...

EPA Advisers Criticize Agency Plans To Revise Biden-Era PFAS SDWA Rule

Several members of an EPA drinking water advisory committee are voicing concerns and opposition to agency plans to revise and delay aspects of the landmark Biden-era PFAS drinking water rules, with the panelists warning the plans would undermine public trust, undercut state efforts to regulate and face legal hurdles. “I think what we’d see with this action is reduced public trust if the MCLs are rescinded,” Steve Elmore, director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Drinking Water and Groundwater...

Georgia PFAS Case Tests Prioritization Of Competing CERCLA, CWA Claims

A public utility in Georgia is fighting with environmentalists over whether the Superfund law or the Clean Water Act (CWA) should govern the cleanup of land and waterways contaminated with PFAS-laden wastewater, as they contest the issue in separate claims pending in federal court. The dispute could be an early test of whether Superfund cost recovery claims for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cleanups -- now allowed under EPA’s 2024 Superfund rule designating two heavily studied PFAS as “hazardous substances”...

House Committee Seeks EPA Report On PFAS Enforcement Discretion Policy

House appropriators are pressing EPA to report on its implementation of the Biden-era enforcement discretion policy aimed at quelling liability concerns of “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination triggered by the agency’s 2024 Superfund PFAS rule, a measure that could inform policymakers weighing steps to address the rule or provide additional liability relief. The House Appropriations Committee included the measure, along with other provisions on per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS), in its report attached to the fiscal year 2026 spending bill...

DOD To Prioritize Most Critical Sectors In Research For PFAS Alternatives

The Department of Defense (DOD) in a new report says it will adopt a phased approach toward researching accessible and effective alternatives to PFAS, starting with critical sectors like weapons systems and semiconductors, while raising concerns that PFAS manufacturers are beginning to exit the market prior to DOD identifying alternatives. “An increasing number of mission critical PFAS and PFAS-enabled products are at risk for obsolescence due to market phase outs; manufacturer liability; complex geopolitical escalation dynamics; and regulatory complexity, uncertainty,...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA Request To Lift Stay In PFAS SDWA Rule Suit

The D.C. Circuit has granted EPA’s request to reactivate litigation brought by industry and water utilities challenging the Biden-era rule limiting PFAS in drinking water, ordering the parties to provide to the court by Aug. 1 proposals for a schedule and format to complete briefing in the case. In a July 22 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit grants EPA’s July 21 motion to govern future proceedings in the consolidated American Water Works...

Senate Panel Seeks To Repeal DOD PFAS Incineration Ban, Lift Purchase Bar

A key Senate panel has approved measures in annual defense policy legislation that would definitively repeal a temporary moratorium on Defense Department (DOD) incineration of PFAS, require DOD to update its PFAS destruction guidance and lift a ban on DOD procurement of certain products containing the two most studied PFAS, among other provisions. In addition, the fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill would push DOD to conduct expedited interim response actions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination at military...

EPA Asks Court To Resume Stalled Suit Over Biden-Era PFAS SDWA Rule

The Trump EPA is pressing the D.C. Circuit to resume what is expected to be complex litigation challenging the Biden-era rule setting PFAS limits in drinking water, asking the court to direct parties in the consolidated case to submit by Aug. 1 proposals for a schedule and format to complete briefing in the case. “The parties are continuing to confer regarding a proposed format and schedule for completion of briefing in these consolidated cases, including an additional filing to be...

House Defense Policy Bill Calls On DOD To Accelerate PFAS Cleanups

The House Armed Services Committee has approved defense authorization legislation that includes several provisions addressing PFAS, including an amendment that would require the Defense Department (DOD) to accelerate PFAS cleanups as well as a measure requiring DOD to provide alternative water to owners of private wells with PFAS exceedances. The committee adopted these and other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) amendments during the panel’s July 15 markup of H.R. 3838, the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The...

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