ISSUE: Inside PFAS Policy

Environmentalists Seek To End Industry Challenge To EPA’s GenX Advisory

Environmentalists are urging a federal appellate court to allow them to intervene on EPA’s behalf in industry litigation challenging the agency’s tough new drinking water health advisory level (HAL) for GenX chemicals, where they plan to ask the court to end the suit because the HAL is not a final action subject to judicial review. In an Aug. 12 motion , the coalition of environmental, community and environmental justice groups urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit...

PFAS Concerns Lead EPA To Drop Third Chemical From ‘Safer Chemical’ List

Concerns about a per- and polyfluorinated substance (PFAS) is leading EPA to drop a third chemical from its Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL) within six months, even as officials are also adding 22 new chemicals to the list, the source for the batch of 20 chemicals the Trump EPA deemed to be “low priority” for TSCA evaluation. The agency announced Aug. 11 that it has begun the process of removing the chemical from its SCIL, the list of chemicals, largely...

Lawyer Sees Need For New Guide On PFAS Use Rule After EPA Rejects Calls

An industry lawyer says manufacturers face lingering questions on how to comply with EPA’s significant new use rule (SNUR) governing several types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) after the agency confirmed that it has no plans to issue new guidance or revise the SNUR. Larry Culleen, a former EPA official and now an attorney with Arnold & Porter who represents downstream chemical users, says that there are aspects of the SNUR which he believes “would be good to address”...

White House Offers Research Strategy For Drinking Water Contaminants

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has unveiled a national research initiative aimed at improving the identification, analysis, monitoring and treatment of a range of emerging contaminants in drinking water, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), saying an integrated federal approach is necessary to address data gaps and protect public health. “The National Emerging Contaminants Research Initiative (NECRI) establishes a national vision--access to clean and plentiful drinking water for every person in the nation--and outlines a...

New Mexico Lawmakers To Press Biden On Pentagon PFAS Cleanups

New Mexico lawmakers are planning to send President Joe Biden a letter urging him to rein in the Defense Department (DOD) in its opposition to the use of state-level standards for remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, including withdrawing DOD’s lawsuit against the state over PFAS releases. The letter, which will be written by the New Mexico legislature’s hazardous waste committee with input from the state’s attorney general and the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), is seeking federal compensation...

EPA’s PFAS Limits Expand Scope Of North Carolina Well Water Study

North Carolina officials say EPA’s strict health advisory levels (HALs) for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has led the state to widen the scope of its remediation work, including an expanded look at contaminated groundwater they say is a significant source of the chemicals. During an Aug. 1 meeting of the state Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board (SAB), a top official with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) described that department’s ongoing efforts to work with the chemical...

Senate Democrats Back EPA’s FY23 PFAS Request But Seek Quick Action

Senate Democrats are backing EPA’s fiscal year 2023 request to increase funding levels for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) activities by more than $50 million but are calling on the agency “to act expeditiously” under multiple environmental statutes to control the forever chemicals. For FY23, EPA has requested roughly $126 million for PFAS activities, a significant increase over the $75 million appropriated for FY22 In report language released last month, Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats urge the agency to take a...

EPA Faces Tight Deadline For Bid To Bar Witnesses From PFAS Testing Suit

The federal court hearing the closely watched suit seeking expanded TSCA test orders for dozens of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is giving the two sides just weeks to brief EPA’s expected motion to exclude outside evidence such as witness testimony, even after the agency signaled it could call Chemours officials to testify. In an Aug. 3 order , Magistrate Judge Robert T. Chambers II, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, set an Aug...

Experts See ‘Huge’ Data Gap On Industrial Workers’ PFAS Exposures

Environmental health experts at a recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) meeting said extensive new research is needed to identify the full range of workers exposed to toxic per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), which could eventually factor into EPA’s TSCA and other chemical analyses of the chemicals. During the National Academy of Sciences’ annual meeting of its Committee on Toxicology (CoT) on July 21, several outside speakers noted in their presentations to the panel that while there has been extensive...

Two Governors Urge DOD To Quickly Adopt Stricter PFAS Cleanup Levels

The governors of Michigan and New Mexico are urging the Defense Department (DOD) to quickly adopt cleanup standards to match more stringent toxicity levels adopted by EPA for certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), although they stop short of asking DOD to directly apply new EPA health guidelines as cleanup levels. EPA’s release in June of four drinking water health advisories for certain PFAS “establish[s] a significantly lower federal threshold for protecting public health than the previous EPA advisory of...

NAS Poised To Release Clinical PFAS Testing Guide

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on July 28 is slated to release its long-awaited report setting out guidance for medical professionals to evaluate individuals’ exposure to per- and polyfluorinated (PFAS), including recommendations for testing and clinical follow-up. Elizabeth Boyle, the committee’s responsible staff officer, said during a July 21 meeting of NAS’ Committee on Toxicology that NAS’ Committee on Guidance on PFAS Testing and Health Outcomes has begun briefing sponsors, community liaisons and members of Congress ahead of the...

Amid Industry Scrutiny, EPA Moves Toward Final PFAS Detection Method

EPA has quietly issued a second draft of its analytical method for measuring dozens of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, marking an important milestone toward eventually issuing a final version, which industry says has taken on heightened importance in the wake of the agency’s health advisories set at levels below current detection capabilities. EPA last month issued a revised draft Method 1633 which includes some technical revisions to an earlier version on such things as the handling and dilution of samples...

EPA Eyes ‘Co-Removed’ PFAS As It Weighs Broader Drinking Water Rule

EPA is offering more detail on how it may broaden a much-anticipated primary drinking water regulation beyond just the two-most studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with a water official saying the agency is considering whether to also regulate PFAS that might be co-removed during treatment of those first two chemicals. EPA is closely focused on “what PFAS might be co-removed when you’re treating to remove [perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)],” Eric Burneson, director of the Standards...

Citing EPA, FDA Launches Review Of PFAS Risks From Food Packaging

Prompted by a recent EPA study, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has opened a formal docket requesting information about the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging to assess potential health risks, saying the information could lead to tougher regulatory requirements. “The purpose of this request is to ensure that we have current information to support our review of the use of fluorinated polyethylene containers used in food contact applications to help ensure that this use...

Pentagon Adopts EPA’s New PFAS Screening Levels To Reassess Sites

The Pentagon is adopting EPA’s updated regional screening levels for five per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in order to assess whether contamination is high enough to warrant remedial investigation, an action that will require reopening assessments at some previously closed sites where contamination was not considered significant enough. DOD’s actions underscore growing public- and private-sector concerns that EPA’s upcoming efforts to regulate various PFAS will force additional assessments and cleanups at sites that may not have previously -- or adequately...

OSTP R&D Effort Draws Concerns Over Differing Definition For PFAS

The White House science office’s request for information that will help shape an upcoming federal research strategy for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is sparking concern from an environmental watchdog group over its use of a PFAS definition that differs from those EPA and states are using and could increase confusion over what “PFAS” are subject to assessment and regulation. In addition, the group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), expresses fears that the emphasis in the White House office’s...

OMB Weighs ATSDR Plan To Extend PFAS Exposure Studies

The White House budget office is weighing plans by federal health officials to add three additional sites to, and revise protocols for, its ongoing study of the effects of exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in communities where drinking water is contaminated with the chemicals. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last month submitted to the Office of Management...

Chemical Industry Warns NDAA May Set Strict PFAS Cleanup Precedent

The chemical industry is warning that the House-passed defense authorization bill, which requires the Defense Department (DOD) to clean up per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination to strict EPA and state standards, would set a “non-scientific precedent” that would require similarly strict and costly cleanups at non-military sites as well. The American Chemistry Council (ACC) says the provision, buried in the $840 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2023, would set PFAS cleanup standards based on non-regulatory...

EPA Issues Final Rule Adding Five PFAS To Toxics Release Inventory

EPA has issued a final rule adding five per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the 170-plus list of PFAS that are subject to reporting requirements under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), adding three related compounds triggered by an EPA toxicity value while lifting a confidential business information (CBI) claim on one of the chemicals. The final rule , published in the July 18 Federal Register , follows up on a January announcement that EPA would add four of the chemicals...

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