From Inside PFAS Policy

Brownfields Redevelopers Push Congress For PFAS Liability Exemption

Brownfield redevelopers are urging Congress to pass a PFAS liability carveout in cases where parties have voluntarily entered into a state-level brownfield cleanup agreement, a request that could expand any Superfund liability exemptions related to PFAS that key lawmakers and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are seeking. During a May 7 hearing before the House transportation committee’s water resources and environment subcommittee, one brownfields redeveloper argued that such an exemption would lead to greater private investment in contaminated sites amid cuts...

Trump EPA May Retain Biden-Era CERCLA PFAS Rule, Legal Experts Say

The Trump EPA may retain the Biden-era rule designating the two most studied PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” legal experts say, given Administrator Lee Zeldin’s support for maintaining a “polluter pays” model, his plans to work with Congress on targeted liability carveouts for “passive receivers” and the history of the issue. “[R]eading the tea leaves, you can see that the administration is committed to continuing to regulate PFAS, and there's no sign from [Zeldin’s recent] press release that EPA is...

Chemical Sector Petitions EPA To Redo, Narrow TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule

A coalition of chemical companies is petitioning the Trump EPA to withdraw and re-propose in a significantly narrower form the Biden-era PFAS reporting rule under TSCA, calling for a series of waivers that appear to go further than what EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin suggested last week. The May 2 petition , from a coalition of anonymous companies, comes just days after Zeldin signaled the agency would seek to scale back the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reporting rule to exempt...

Industry, Utilities Urge Trump EPA To Scrap PFAS Human Health Criteria

Industry and utilities are urging the Trump EPA to revise or withdraw the Biden-era draft water quality criteria to protect human health (HHC) from exposures to three PFAS, a policy measure whose fate is uncertain given that EPA omitted it from Administrator Lee Zeldin’s recently released policy and research agenda for the chemicals. In recently submitted comments, the industry and utility groups argued that the toxicity data underlying the draft criteria for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and...

Lawmakers Float Bill To Curb Federal Procurement Of PFAS Products

A group of House lawmakers has introduced legislation that would bar federal agencies from procuring cookware, furniture, carpets and rugs containing two legacy PFAS and prioritize the procurement of PFAS-free products in these categories, mirroring a measure that lawmakers previously failed to add into annual defense legislation. The legislation, titled the PFAS-Free Procurement Act , aims to “prioritize the procurement of safer, PFAS-free products,” says a May 1 press release from Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH), a co-sponsor of the bill...

D.C. Circuit Grants EPA Extended Stay To Weigh CERCLA PFAS Rule

EPA has won an additional 30 days to decide how to proceed in pending industry litigation challenging the Biden EPA rule designating two PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” as officials prepare to engage with Congress on creating a liability framework that upholds the “polluter pays” model while providing protections to “passive receivers.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit April 30 granted EPA’s April 25 unopposed motion seeking an additional 30 days to the current stay...

Trump EPA’s PFAS Plan Offers Few Details But Hints At Some Rollbacks

The Trump EPA’s just-released multi-media plan to address PFAS provides few details of what regulatory and other actions officials will eventually take, but environmentalists and others say they expect the agency to delay and roll back some of what the Biden administration crafted while also dropping some key items. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is “planning to re-do everything the Biden people did, which automatically means he’s going to delay for years . . . any kind of regulation,” says Betsy...

Trump EPA PFAS Plan Largely Continues Biden-Era Regulatory Priorities

The Trump EPA has unveiled a plan to address PFAS contamination that maintains many priorities from the Biden administration -- a noted difference from the agency’s approach to other environmental issues -- although the Trump plan appears to mark a shift in emphasis, especially on some waste and reporting issues. “I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states and communities dealing with legacy contamination in their backyards,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says in an April...

EPA Seeks More Time To Weigh CERCLA PFAS Rule Ahead Of New Strategy

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit for an additional 30 days before deciding on how to proceed in pending litigation challenging the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, a move that will give officials more time to complete the agency’s upcoming multi-media strategy to address the chemicals. In an April 25 unopposed motion , EPA told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that agency leadership needs more time to...

As EPA Readies PFAS Plan, Zeldin Urged To Keep SDWA, CERCLA Rules

As EPA prepares to issue a new, multi-media plan addressing PFAS, dozens of environmental groups are urging Administrator Lee Zeldin to retain the agency’s landmark drinking water and Superfund rules as a bulwark for protecting communities from PFAS contamination. In an April 23 letter , 78 grassroots and national environmental groups urge Zeldin to “maintain and defend . . . life-saving” Biden-era rules setting strict levels for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water and designating the two...

Environmentalists Fight Toxicologists’ Late PFAS-Risk Push In SDWA Suit

Environmentalists are opposing a late push by toxicology groups seeking to make the case that the Biden EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule for six PFAS does not meet the law’s regulatory thresholds, charging that the groups, led by a former Trump EPA toxics office nominee, are six months too late in filing their amici brief. Further, the environmentalists, who are respondent-interveners in the case, say the toxicologists are raising new arguments -- such as challenging EPA’s conclusion...

Court Seeks Briefing On New Mexico Law’s Effect On Air Force’s PFAS Suit

A federal appeals court is asking New Mexico and Air Force officials to explain how a new state law that regulates discarded firefighting foam containing PFAS as “hazardous waste” affects their pending litigation on whether state or federal courts should hear the service’s challenge to a state waste permit governing PFAS releases. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on its own accord issued an April 18 order in Air Force v. New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) ,...

Court Urged To Vacate PFAS Drinking Water Rule Due To Flawed Risk Levels

Toxicology groups led by a former Trump EPA toxics office nominee are urging an appellate court to vacate the Biden EPA’s drinking water rule setting limits on six PFAS, with the groups charging that officials made mistakes in their use of scientific studies when determining risk levels for the chemicals that are the basis for the rule. As a result, the groups say in an April 15 amici brief the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

Passive Receivers Say EPA Overestimated PFAS Risks In Sewage Sludge

Passive receivers of PFAS-containing biosolids and others are criticizing EPA’s draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in sewage sludge, arguing the assessment grossly overestimates the risk from the compounds and fails to incorporate a critical risk management analysis that would compare and contextualize the risks from other PFAS sources. “The potential for PFAS exposure from common household activities -- such as doing laundry, eating takeout, sitting on furniture, or using personal care products is not considered and could be...

Zeldin Sees EPA Grappling With High Costs Of Complying With PFAS Rules

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says lawmakers have asked him to address concerns from drinking water utilities and others regarding the costs and varying burdens of complying with the agency’s new PFAS rules under the drinking water and Superfund laws, the first public sign that the agency plans to implement the high-profile measures. “Over the course of the next couple of years, there are dates that are coming where local water systems are going to have to be coming into compliance,”...

Judge Denies Stay Of Prop. 65 Suit Against Chrome Platers’ PFAS Discharges

A California superior court judge is denying a chrome-plating firm’s bid to stay environmentalists’ novel Proposition 65 lawsuit against it for alleged illegal discharges of PFAS into drinking water sources, finding that doing so could be unfair to the environmentalists by allowing the company’s internal investigation to go on indefinitely. “The investigation has already been ongoing for some time. While Defendant represents that it believes the investigation to be nearing its conclusion, it cannot guarantee this to be the case...

EPA Asks Court For Another 30 Days To Review Biden-Era PFAS Water Rule

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit to extend by 30 days a stay of litigation challenging the agency’s PFAS drinking water rule, arguing the Trump administration needs more time to evaluate the Biden-era rule that set strict limits on six PFAS in drinking water and decide how to proceed in the case. The request underscores the Trump EPA’s continuing uncertainty about how to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as the agency prepares to announce a new PFAS lead official...

Former Officials Suggest Legislative Tradeoff On PFAS Superfund Waivers

Former EPA officials are suggesting a potential legislative tradeoff whereby lawmakers limit liability for certain “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination, as Republicans and a handful of House Democrats have long sought, while Congress also codifies the Biden-era policy designating PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances.” The former officials say in a recent white paper to the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee that it is important for EPA to use its “full suite of Superfund tools to address dangerous PFAS...

USDA Urges NASEM To Provide Unique Definition For ‘PFAS’ In Agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is urging a panel of scientific advisors to recommend a unique definition of PFAS that would cover the chemicals that are likely present in agricultural environments, seeking to tackle a divisive issue that helps determine which of the thousands of PFAS should be assessed and regulated. During an April 3 meeting, Kale Horton, hazardous waste program manager at USDA, urged a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) panel that is assisting the...

California Bill To Ban Most PFAS Uses Clears Panel, But Faces Uphill Battle

A California Senate environmental committee has passed a bill to ban the sale of products with intentionally added PFAS that are not deemed to have “essential uses” and for which no other alternatives exist, but the measure faces an uphill battle given strong opposition by industry and business groups and doubts about its feasibility. “We’re going to continue to work on this -- there is certainly some refinement that has to happen. But the scope and size of this problem...

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