ISSUE: Inside PFAS Policy

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...

Senate Appropriators Approve Boost In PFAS Cleanup Funds For DOD

Senate appropriators are increasing the military services’ PFAS cleanup budget requests for fiscal year 2026 by $135 million, citing concerns over drinking water contamination, and are also ordering the Pentagon to provide Congress with detailed budget planning for PFAS cleanup and firefighting foam removal and disposal. “The Committee remains concerned for the health and safety of individuals affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS] at military installations and in surrounding communities, particularly in areas where PFAS persists in groundwater aquifers,...

EPA Asks D.C. Circuit To Set Schedule In PFAS SDWA Rule Challenge

EPA and other parties are asking the D.C. Circuit to set a Sept. 10 deadline for the agency to clarify its position in long-pending litigation brought by industry and water utilities challenging the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits, signaling the agency is moving closer to finalizing how it will pursue its proposed changes to the landmark rule. In an Aug. 1 joint motion to govern , EPA, environmentalists, water utilities and industry asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...

Maine Seeks To Reject Most Requests For Exemption From PFAS Bans

Maine regulators are recommending the state reject almost all the petitions it received from manufacturers seeking exemptions from the state’s prohibitions on certain products containing PFAS, arguing that the chemicals’ uses are not essential for health, safety or the functioning of society or they have reasonably available alternatives. Maine is the first state to test the implementation of a “Currently Unavoidable Use” (CUU) provision, which grants extensions on compliance deadlines for products with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) subject to...

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...

Study Finds PFAS Causes Genetic Changes As Early Indicator Of Disease

Researchers from the University of Arizona in a novel study have found that PFAS contamination in firefighters from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and other exposures can cause genetic activity changes associated with many diseases, a development which could precede illness and provide an earlier indication of health risks from PFAS. “Identifying an early [microRNAs (miRNA)] signature could indicate a higher likelihood of certain health outcomes, such as a cancer or another disease,” first author of the study Melissa Furlong, an...

GAO’s Limited Review Backs EPA’s Costs Process For PFAS SDWA Rule

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is offering some support for the Biden EPA’s process in estimating the cost of its PFAS drinking water rule, which was called into question by water utilities and industry, though GAO offers a limited review that refrains from examining the quality of the estimates due to ongoing litigation over the rule. In the July 30 report , titled “Persistent Chemicals: Information on EPA’s Analysis of Costs for its PFAS Drinking Water Regulation,” GAO tells congressional...

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...

Carolina Lawmakers Override Veto On Bill Expected To Hinder PFAS Rules

North Carolina lawmakers have voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s (D) veto on a bill that would require PFAS and other rules to receive unanimous approval from the state’s environmental regulatory oversight panel before they can take effect, despite some Democrats warning the bill would significantly hinder efforts to tackle PFAS contamination. The bill “effectively makes it impossible to adopt certain rules governing, most likely, health and safety -- that’s where we’re probably going to see this -- including those...

Industry Criticizes Washington State’s PFAS Ban For Total Fluorine Tests

Industry groups are criticizing Washington state regulators for using total fluorine (TF) tests as proof of intentionally added PFAS that would trigger compliance with the state’s product prohibitions and reporting requirements, arguing the presence of fluorine does not necessarily indicate the presence of PFAS and such tests may lead to false positives. “Throughout the proposed rule language, the text states that, ‘[the Department of Ecology] presumes the detection of total fluorine indicates the intentional addition of PFAS,’” said the American...

House Lawmakers Urge Zeldin To Reverse Plans On PFAS SDWA Rule

Dozens of House lawmakers -- all Democrats except for two Republicans -- are urging EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to uphold the Biden-era rule limiting six PFAS in drinking water, attempting to persuade him to reverse plans to rescind aspects of the rule and delay compliance. “We write to express our concern with EPA’s announcement to reconsider key elements of the April 2024 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule establishing national, legally enforceable drinking water standards for several per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

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”...

Minnesota Gives Manufacturers 6 More Months To Report PFAS Uses

Minnesota regulators will give PFAS manufacturers six more months, until July 1, 2026, to report their PFAS uses to the state, conceding to industry groups that significantly criticized Minnesota’s reporting rule for not giving them enough time to prepare. Officials also announced a seven-year extension -- until 2032 -- on Minnesota’s ban on intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) found in internal components and electronic components of products, though they appear unlikely to grant industry requests to modify other...

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...

Utilities Urge EPA Advisors To Back Revised PFAS Drinking Water Rule

Water utilities are urging EPA advisors to support revisions Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in May to partially pare back the agency’s drinking water rule setting limits for certain PFAS, though the utilities plan to maintain their legal challenge contesting the portion of the Biden-era rule the Trump administration says it will retain. The American Water Works Association (AWWA), which represents a variety of drinking water utilities, submitted July 21 comments to the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) ahead of...

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,...

ATSDR’s PFAS Blood-Level Findings May Bolster Health Effects Research

Researchers are suggesting a nationwide federal study finding levels of four types of PFAS in the blood of nearly every participant among thousands tested in contaminated communities could serve as a jumping-off point to further examine health effects linked to such exposures. “These serum concentrations reflect a wide range of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposures in communities affected by contamination from firefighting activities and industrial emissions, and other sources,” the researchers say in a June 12 journal article running...

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...

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...

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