From Inside PFAS Policy

D.C. Circuit Grants Stay Of Industry Challenge To Superfund PFAS Rule

The D.C. Circuit has granted the Trump EPA’s uncontested request to stay for 60 days industry’s challenge to the agency’s Biden-era rule designating the two most studied PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” opening the door for the new administration to review and possibly roll back the measure. In a Feb. 24 order in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. EPA , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s...

DOD Pledges To Better Inform Congress On PFAS Cleanup Cost Estimates

The Defense Department (DOD) is agreeing with advice from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to expand the information it provides to Congress on its $9-billion-plus estimate of future costs for PFAS investigations and cleanups at hundreds of bases. In response to a draft version of a GAO report that was released Feb. 24, DOD agreed to provide lawmakers with key potential cost drivers to its cleanup of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as it faces challenges such as evolving regulatory...

DOD Says PFAS Cleanup Costs Will Exceed $9 Billion But Sees Increases

The Defense Department (DOD) says it expects to spend more than $9 billion on PFAS investigations and cleanups at active bases, National Guard facilities, former defense sites and closed bases, though officials see costs rising even more as they gain knowledge about the extent of required cleanup. But the estimates, contained in a just-released congressional report, are based on cleanup and other requirements stemming from Biden-era per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) policies that the new Trump administration may be targeting...

Environmentalists Urge States To Implement Local Permit Limits For PFAS

Environmentalists are urging states to use their existing authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to control industrial PFAS discharges, appearing pessimistic about the future of federal technology-based effluent limits as EPA’s long-delayed Effluent Guidelines Program is expected to slow even more under the Trump EPA’s deregulatory agenda. “We hope that over the next year that, if EPA does not act, our states do step up and begin using the tools that they have under the Clean Water Act to...

California Bill Would Lock-In Biden-EPA Drinking Water PFAS Standards

A California lawmaker is introducing a bill to require the state water board to advance emergency rules to lock-in the Biden-EPA’s stringent regulatory limits for six PFAS in drinking water, mainly in response to President Donald Trump’s expected repeal of the standards, which are facing lawsuits from chemical industry and water utility groups. “Given the developments in Washington, given the threat to public health and to public safety that these chemicals pose, the science here is absolutely clear -- we...

Air Force Seeks Talks With New Mexico Over PFAS Spill Enforcement Order

The Air Force is entering settlement talks with New Mexico over a disputed state enforcement action related to an accidental release of firefighting foam wastewater containing PFAS, following a request for an administrative hearing on the enforcement action where the military argues it is immune to hazardous waste permit requirements for PFAS. Col. Robert L. Johnston, installation commander at Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), says in a Feb. 14 letter to the New Mexico Department of Environment (NMED) that he...

Environmentalists Renew Biden EPA Defense Of PFAS CERCLA Rule

Environmentalist-intervenors are renewing Biden EPA defenses of the agency’s landmark Superfund rule designating two PFAS as “hazardous substances,” though the future of the industry challenge is uncertain as the Trump administration seeks to stay the case in order to review the rule. “If any chemicals satisfy CERCLA’s standard for designation as hazardous substances, they are PFOA and PFOS,” the intervenors say in a Feb. 13 brief that argues the two substances are highly toxic at low exposure levels, easily migrate...

Lawmakers Renew Efforts To Offer Superfund Relief From PFAS Liability

Lawmakers are initiating renewed efforts to provide Superfund liability relief to so-called passive receivers of PFAS contamination, with House members reintroducing legislation to offer targeted protections to water utilities while Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) is reiterating her concerns over liability for a variety of sectors and committing to work with the House on the issue. Lummis, who sits on the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee, recently expressed continued concerns over Superfund liability for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)...

EPA Seeks Stay Of Challenge To Landmark Superfund PFAS Rule

EPA is asking the D.C. Circuit for a 60-day stay of industry’s litigation challenging a landmark EPA rule designating the two most studied PFAS as Superfund “hazardous substances,” with the agency contending the Trump administration needs time to review the underlying rule. In a Feb. 11 motion in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. EPA , the agency asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to hold the case...

Judge Attempts To Smooth Path For CERCLA Claims Under PFAS MDL

The federal judge overseeing PFAS multidistrict litigation (MDL) is attempting to smooth the way for plaintiffs to add Superfund law claims to their already pending cases while preventing technical issues over the cleanup process from getting in the way of making determinations on Superfund liability under those claims. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina told plaintiffs during a Feb. 7 status conference that he is willing to sign off on an unopposed...

Court Stays PFAS Water Rule Suit Pending Trump EPA Regulatory Review

The D.C. Circuit has granted EPA a 60-day stay of litigation challenging the agency’s PFAS drinking water rule, allowing the Trump administration time to review the landmark regulation setting stringent limits on six PFAS in drinking water and consider whether it will seek to make changes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late Feb. 7 entered an order granting a motion filed earlier in the day by EPA in American Water Works Association (AWWA), et...

Analysis Finds 29 States Expected To Address PFAS Contamination In 2025

At least 29 states are expected to consider policies in 2025 to address PFAS contamination, according to an analysis from an alliance of environmental organizations, including banning PFAS in products, identifying safer alternatives, and setting drinking water limits for PFAS, signaling continued state leadership even as federal action under the Trump EPA is uncertain. Such expectations around states addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination comes amid fears the Trump administration will roll back Biden-era regulations, including the drinking water...

NACWA Urges EPA To Walk-Back Biden-Era Call For Local PFAS Limits

A group that represents publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) is urging EPA to walk-back calls from the Biden administration urging utilities and others to launch efforts to create local pretreatment programs to address PFAS from upstream sources, at least until the agency crafts water quality policies needed for such measures. “Utilities must not be held responsible for developing local limits for pervasive chemicals such as PFAS, especially when water quality standards do not yet exist for these chemicals and POTWs...

Judge Rejects Plaintiffs’ Argument On CWA Waiver Of Immunity In PFAS MDL

The federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) addressing contamination from PFAS in firefighting foam has effectively dismissed plaintiffs’ arguments that the Clean Water Act (CWA) waives the Defense Department’s (DOD) immunity to state-law water pollution claims and Federal Tort Claims Act trespass claims. In a Jan. 30 order , Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina also effectively rejected plaintiffs’ assertion that the Federal Tort Claims Act’s (FTCA) Discretionary Function Exemption (DFE) was...

POTWs Cite EPA Assessment To Urge Dismissal Of Suit Seeking Sludge Rule

Publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) are urging a federal court to dismiss a case brought by environmentalists seeking to force EPA to set PFAS limits in sludge, pointing to the agency’s recent risk assessment of two of the chemicals in sludge to argue plaintiffs would be making EPA skip necessary rulemaking to establish such regulations. “Plaintiffs ignore the Congressionally-mandated procedures for biosolids rulemaking and seek to substitute an unorthodox process foreign to the [Clean Water Act (CWA)] -- judicial, as...

Dischargers Say Trump’s Rule Freeze Blocks Draft CWA PFAS Methods Rule

Citing the Trump administration’s regulatory freeze, industry, municipal and other dischargers are urging EPA to withdraw a Biden-era proposal establishing analytical methods for assessing PFAS under the Clean Water Act (CWA), potentially delaying the listing of the methods that, once final, are expected to drive states to require PFAS monitoring in permits. In comments filed late last month, two coalitions representing a range of industry, municipal and agricultural groups say the agency should withdraw the proposed CWA Methods Update Rule...

EPA Grants Industry Call To Extend Comment Period On Contested MSGP

At the request of multiple industry groups, the Trump EPA has extended for 60 days the public comment period on a contested Biden-era proposal revising the agency’s multi-sector general permit (MSGP) for industrial stormwater, which includes first-time PFAS monitoring requirements, clearing the way for the new administration to revisit the permit. According to a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published Feb. 3, EPA is extending the comment deadline by 60 days from the date of publication -- which...

DOD Weighs Emerging Technologies, Eyeing Update To PFAS Disposal Guide

Departing Biden Defense Department (DOD) officials told Congress earlier this month the department is evaluating the use of emerging technologies for PFAS disposal using a framework in EPA’s updated PFAS destruction and disposal guidance, as DOD revises its own disposal guidance and wrestles with how to address large amounts of PFAS-containing waste. “DoD is reviewing EPA’s April 2024 updated guidance and will incorporate new information and identified options into DoD’s planned update to its guidance,” the Office of the Assistant...

States, Industry Urge EPA To Reconsider Studying PFAS ELGs For Oil Sector

The oil and gas industry and key state regulators are urging the Trump EPA to reconsider a Biden-era plan to study whether a subset of the sector, as well as certain wastewater plants, should be subject to PFAS effluent limits, questioning the agency’s prioritization of the sector as well as the need for technology-based limits. “Considering the high numerical (low priority) ranking of the Oil and Gas Extraction Category, we suggest that being ranked number 57 in priority of concern...

House Democrat Floats PFAS ‘Essentiality Framework’ For TSCA Reform

A House Democrat is floating the possibility of using any upcoming TSCA reform bill to create a framework for determining whether PFAS are “essential” and, if not, banning them, a move that would codify long-running efforts from environmentalists to regulate the substances as a class, though such a plan would face stiff industry opposition. “There’s scientific merit behind treating PFAS as a class,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) told a Jan. 22 House Energy and Commerce Committee panel hearing assessing the...

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