ISSUE: Inside PFAS Policy

Lawmakers Seek To Strike Defense Bill Measure Paring Back AFFF Phaseout

Two lawmakers have filed amendments aimed at eliminating a measure pending in the House defense authorization bill that would delay the Defense Department’s (DOD) phaseout of firefighting foam containing PFAS and expand an exemption for using the foam, signaling opposition to an attempt to weaken the phaseout requirements. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) -- co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force -- and George Whitesides (D-CA) filed separate but identical amendments to the House Rules Committee that would strike section...

EPA Floats Draft Proposal To Revise, Ease TSCA PFAS Reporting Rule

The White House has begun reviewing EPA’s proposed rule that is expected to scale back the Biden-era PFAS reporting regulation under TSCA to ease burdens on manufacturers, a move that will please industry stakeholders that have long criticized the measure for imposing high costs on those entities subject to its mandates. The proposed rule, “Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Data Reporting and Recordkeeping under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Revision to Regulation” was submitted for White House Office of...

Water Systems Urge Trump EPA To Revise PFAS Biosolids Risk Assessment

Water systems and biosolids advocates are urging the Trump EPA to revise the modeling, including risk scenarios and human exposure assumptions, underlying the Biden-EPA’s draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids, charging it improperly calculated risks and overstated the harm the chemicals cause. “Overall, projected risks from individual pathways are overestimated as the risk assessment focuses on ‘worst-case scenarios,’” the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), which represents publicly owned wastewater and stormwater agencies, says in an...

Citing Weak PFAS Rules, Advocates Ask Chip Maker To Boost Protections

Environmentalists are underscoring how federal and state regulations fail to sufficiently address the PFAS used and released in semiconductor manufacturing, contending that a chips manufacturer needs to boost its planned actions beyond minimum regulatory standards in order to mitigate PFAS from its proposed facilities in New York and prevent adverse impacts. “[T]o mitigate the serious environmental harms created by discharges of PFAS via wastewater, Micron needs to do more than ‘meet current regulatory requirements,’” Sierra Club says in an Aug...

EPA Said To Reverse Support For CERCLA PFAS Rule, Eying Repeal

A top EPA waste official appears to be steering the agency toward reversing its planned support for the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law after hearing industry’s objections to the landmark regulation, with Administrator Lee Zeldin likely to soon decide whether to back the new position. According to The New York Times , Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), in late July met...

Environmentalists Criticize Defense Bill Rollbacks On PFAS Restrictions

As Congress prepares to take up defense policy legislation when lawmakers return from their summer recess, environmentalists are criticizing the pending House and Senate bills for proposing various rollbacks on PFAS-related restrictions that they say would erode protections aimed at safeguarding military personnel and communities from the chemicals. “The rollback would deliberately gut the very protections intended to shield the people who put their lives on the line for the U.S.,” the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which has long pushed...

Lawyers Urge Pushback After ECHA Declines To Review Revised PFAS Plan

Industry lawyers are urging domestic manufacturers to resist plans by European regulators to not submit a recently released amendment to a proposed universal PFAS ban to their scientific committees for review, saying they should press officials to consider the amendment, which adds eight product categories and exempts some applications from the rule. “Industries that benefit from the new derogations should weigh in during the public consultation on the [scientific committee’s] draft opinion, lobby the [European] Commission, and potentially the [European]...

New Mexico Urges Judicial Panel To Send PFAS Suit Back To State Court

New Mexico is urging a federal judicial panel to reject Air Force efforts to move its recently filed lawsuit against the service over PFAS releases to the massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) over firefighting foam, arguing the suit belongs in state court in a case that could test what recourse states have in pursuing their claims against federal facilities. In an Aug. 20 brief , New Mexico Attorney General (AG) Raul Torrez told the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML)...

Engineers Warn Of Costly, Complex Surface Water Treatment For PFAS

Environmental engineers are advising utilities to prepare for their treatment technology needs to tackle PFAS in surface water, emphasizing how the medium is often more difficult and expensive to treat, at a time when utilities are already struggling under the regulatory uncertainty from the proposed changes to the PFAS drinking water limits. “PFAS treatment for surface water is still [] relatively uncharted territory, mostly because much of our industry’s experience in PFAS removal has been from groundwater sources,” Jihyon Im,...

EPA Expects To Delay Final Rule For TRI PFAS Additions, Budget Says

The Trump EPA says it still intends to finalize a Biden-era plan to add more than 100 PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), though it is delaying even further the rule’s timeline while saying it will align it with the “Administration’s priorities” -- signaling it may apply a de minimis exemption that could largely curtail reporting levels. Although it is unclear how the Trump EPA may change the rule, it appears likely the agency will revert to exercising...

EU Proposes To Curtail Sweeping PFAS Ban, Exempt Some Fluoropolymers

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is proposing to scale back a sweeping 2023 plan that would have phased out the use of PFAS across all industry sectors, suggesting broadening and extending exemptions for certain applications, such as for fluoropolymers, though American manufacturers are still voicing concern over the potential for strict bans. ECHA in an Aug. 20 press release announced that Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden updated their proposal that restricts the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Judge Scolds Plaintiffs For Seeking To Avoid AFFF MDL In Injury Claims

The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination from firefighting foam is making clear that personal injury claims stemming from exposure to turnout gear and other sources belong in the MDL, admonishing plaintiffs for seeking to skirt the MDL through “artful pleading” that alleges their PFAS exposures have no link to foam. The judge’s position, spelled out in an Aug. 22 case management order , could be welcome news for defendant manufacturers, as keeping the suits in federal court...

Judge Stays CWA PFAS Citizen Suit Amid Plaintiff Fears Of EPA Intervention

A federal judge has granted chemical manufacturer Chemours’ request to stay a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit seeking to enforce discharge limits at its West Virginia plant while the company appeals a landmark preliminary injunction requiring the facility to immediately comply with its permit and limit its releases. While the Aug. 22 order maintains the preliminary injunction, which Chemours did not seek to stay, it is nonetheless a blow to the plaintiffs -- West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) and...

North Carolina Court Upholds AG’s Enforcement Authority In PFAS Case

A North Carolina state court has upheld the state’s common law enforcement authority, and specifically the Democratic state attorney general’s (AG) standalone enforcement authority, to pursue tort and other claims for impacts to natural resources from PFAS releases, a blow to chemical manufacturers that had sought to block the suit. In the Aug. 7 decision , North Carolina Chief Business Court Judge Michael Robinson denied a May 2 motion by DuPont and Chemours to dismiss for lack of subject matter...

2023 TRI Analysis Shows Facilities Treated More PFAS Waste, Cut Releases

Facilities managed more PFAS waste in 2023 compared to previous years, according to EPA’s new analysis of 2023 data reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), but more of that waste was treated than before, resulting in a reduction in releases through air, water, land and other media compared to 2022. But the data for 2024 is expected to show an increase in volumes of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) waste as 2023 was the last reporting year when facilities...

New Jersey’s PFAS Settlements May Offer ‘Roadmap’ For Other States

New Jersey’s multi-billion dollar proposed settlements with various chemical manufacturers over PFAS contamination are likely to serve as a “roadmap” for dozens of other states pursing natural resource damages (NRD) and drinking water cleanup claims due to PFAS contamination, legal experts say, though some are more cautious. “This landmark settlement sets a powerful precedent for environmental protection efforts nationwide,” says William Jackson, an attorney with Kelley Drye, who served as co-counsel along with two other law firms to New Jersey’s...

Court Cancels PFAS Personal Injury Trial, Seeks Unfiled Claims’ Submittal

The judge overseeing multidistrict litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination has canceled, for now, what would have been the first bellwether trial to hear personal injury claims and related pretrial preparation in response to the swelling number of personal injury claims that have yet to be filed. Instead, Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina is ordering plaintiffs’ attorneys to file these claims in the next few weeks or miss out on new incentives...

Court Grants EPA Request To Again Delay Suit Over PFAS CERCLA Rule

The D.C. Circuit has granted the Trump EPA’s request -- its fifth -- to again delay industry litigation challenging the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, giving the agency 30 more days to determine how to proceed. “Upon consideration of respondents’ unopposed motion to continue abeyance, it is ORDERED that the motion be granted, and these cases continue to remain in abeyance,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...

Sen. Ricketts Proposes CERCLA PFAS Liability Protections In FY26 NDAA

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) is proposing an amendment to fiscal year 2026 defense authorization legislation that would carve out Superfund liability protections for fire suppression, wastewater and other entities in response to requirements designating two PFAS as “hazardous substances,” marking an early test of legislative support for such measures. Ricketts’ amendment , filed July 31 before senators broke for their summer recess, also proposes a new definition for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that would narrow the current definition contained...

2nd Circuit Says 3M’s Federal Removal Of Vermont PFAS Suit Was Timely

A federal appellate court found that 3M’s bid to remove Vermont’s PFAS contamination suit to federal court was timely filed and reversed a district court order that sent the suit to state court, a procedural win for the manufacturer, which is seeking to keep the suit in federal court, where it plans to offer a government contractor defense. “Contrary to the District Court’s order, we conclude that the notice of removal in this case was filed within thirty days after...

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