ISSUE: Superfund Report

3M, New Jersey Reach $450 Million Deal For Manufacturer’s PFAS Liability

PFAS manufacturer 3M has reached a proposed settlement of up to $450 million with New Jersey over long-running PFAS cleanup and natural resource damages (NRD) claims, as well as the state’s claims over the company’s production of firefighting foam under multidistrict litigation (MDL) -- the largest such PFAS settlement in the state’s history. 3M’s decision to settle comes just a week before a federal court is set to hold the first of a series of mini-trials focused on the New...

U.S. PFAS Imports May Drop After Stockholm Convention Bans LC-PFCAs

Members of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have agreed to ban the production, use, import and export of long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC-PFCAs) and products that contain them, an action that could limit imports of the chemicals even in non-member countries like the United States, sources say. “I think that although the U.S. is not a Party to the Convention, it will affect global markets and availability for import,” Pamela Miller, co-chair of the International Pollutants Elimination Network...

In State Precedent, EPA Plans To Approve North Dakota CCR Permit Program

EPA is proposing to approve North Dakota’s application to run its own coal combustion residuals (CCR) permitting program that would operate in lieu of federal coal ash rules, the first such proposal from the Trump administration that could set a precedent for other states that may seek similar approvals. EPA issued a prepublication version of its proposed approval May 12, which would allow the state to manage coal ash disposal in surface impoundments and landfills as opposed to the federal...

Air Force, New Mexico Say PFAS Case Should Proceed Despite New Law

The Air Force and the New Mexico are each urging the 10th Circuit to continue hearing a case deciding whether state or federal courts should hear the service’s challenge of a state waste permit covering PFAS, despite a recently adopted state law to list discarded PFAS-containing firefighting foam as “hazardous waste.” While the Air Force’s appeal deals with the procedural issue of which venue should hear the permit challenge, the state points out that the new law strengthens the New...

House GOP Weighs Brownfields Cuts As Democrats Fear Cleanup Delays

Some congressional Republicans appear skeptical of maintaining funding levels for EPA’s traditionally bipartisan brownfields program, as Democrats warn that President Donald Trump’s proposed 55 percent cuts to the agency will hamstring the program’s efforts to clean and redevelop contaminated areas. “In November, the American people spoke loud and clear,” Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), chair of the House transportation committee’s Water Resources and Environment subcommittee, told a May 7 hearing on the brownfields law, which expires this year. “First of all,...

EPA Close To Easing Incinerator Air Rule, Possibly Exempting Pyrolysis

EPA is nearing release of a long-delayed rule that would substantially relax air pollution limits for small waste incinerators, with provisions that are expected to exclude pyrolysis, a process used in plastics recycling, from the definition of incineration while also exempting many Alaskan units from regulation. The agency May 6 sent its final rule reviewing air emission standards for new and existing “other” solid waste incinerators (OSWI) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for prepublication review,...

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...

Industry Worries TSCA Reform Push May Not Address Existing Chemicals

Congress’ early focus on revising TSCA’s approach to pre-market reviews of new chemicals as a key component of potential changes to the 2016 law is prompting some industry sources to worry that a narrow window for addressing other issues in the statute could close without touching its current language on existing chemicals, a key priority. “On the House’s side they haven’t really gotten very far; they have a lot of other priorities. TSCA is on the backburner,” an industry source...

Court Ruling Clears Path For Trump EPA TSCA Framework Rule Rewrite

The D.C. Circuit’s decision last week to pause consolidated litigation over the Biden-era rule laying out procedures for evaluating existing chemicals under TSCA clears the path for the Trump EPA to move forward with its plan to propose a new version of the framework rule next month and finalize it in 2026. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit April 30 ordered United Steelworkers et al. v. EPA “be held in abeyance pending further order...

California Senate Committee Advances Katie Butler’s DTSC Appointment

The California Senate Rules Committee has unanimously advanced acting state toxics department chief Katie Butler’s appointment to officially head the agency that oversees the state’s green chemistry program as well as hazardous waste management and contaminated site cleanups. The committee voted April 30 following Butler’s confirmation hearing, and the full Senate is expected soon to give its approval to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) appointment of Butler to be director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). During her confirmation...

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...

Trump EPA Taps Appointees To Lead OLEM, Streamline Superfund Process

EPA has named several new political officials to key positions in the agency’s waste office, including a new senior advisor to streamline the Superfund cleanup process as well as a new political appointee from Florida’s environment department, who will replace the office’s long-time career deputy upon his retirement from the agency. They will join John Busterud, who led EPA Region 9 during the first Trump administration and has now been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as assistant administrator...

Critics Say Staff, Budget Cuts Will ‘Sabotage’ Key State, EPA Functions

Environmentalists and other critics are warning that Trump administration plans to downsize and re-organize EPA, in addition to a requested 55 percent budget cut, would decimate the agency’s ability to carry out its basic functions and protect public health, citing the gutting of the research office and enormous proposed cuts to state assistance funds. “This is not restructuring, this is sabotage,” said Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) representing EPA alumni, at a May 5 press...

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...

EPA Unveils Agency-Wide Reorganization Affecting Major Program Offices

EPA is announcing a major reorganization in line with orders from President Donald Trump to eliminate staff, slash funding and restructure federal agencies, unveiling plans to reform the administrator’s office as well as the air, water, and chemical offices while gutting the research office and moving many of its scientists elsewhere or firing them. In a May 2 announcement , EPA says planned changes include shifting research functions to program offices; creating an office to work with states on air...

Trump FY26 Budget Seeks Steep Cuts To Superfund, ORD, State Assistance

President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request outlines steep cuts to EPA spending, with the hardest-hit areas including categorical grants to states, the Superfund program, the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and funds for water infrastructure. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) May 2 released the so-called “ skinny budget ,” a pared-back version of the administration’s request, with a more-detailed version slated for release later. Despite his administration’s commitment to work more closely with...

Air Force Seeks To Reverse Precedent Subjecting RCRA Permits To NEPA

The Air Force is asking the 9th Circuit to reconsider a divided panel decision that reinstated environmentalists’ suit seeking to require the service to review its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit request for open burn/open detonation (OB/OD) of waste explosives under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In an April 30 petition for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc in Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian v. U.S. Department of the Air Force , the Air Force argued that...

Broad Coalition Sues To Block EPA’s Planned Workforce Cut, Reorganization

A broad coalition of public sector unions, nonprofits, and local governments are suing EPA and other federal agencies in a bid to stop Trump-ordered reductions in force (RIFs) and reorganizations across the federal government, calling the effort unconstitutional and unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The coalition’s April 28 complaint , filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenges a Feb. 11 executive order (EO) and subsequent administration memorandum requiring federal agencies to develop...

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...

EPA Moves To Dismiss Landmark eBay Case Testing Section 230 Immunity

The Trump EPA is moving to drop a Biden-era appeal of a ruling that found eBay immune from liability over sales of products banned under federal toxics, air and pesticide laws, a move that will leave in place a landmark decision that found a controversial telecommunications law provides a defense against EPA enforcement for online retailers. “Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b)(2), Plaintiff-Appellant United States of America moves for voluntary dismissal of its appeal,” the Justice Department (DOJ)...

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