PFAS POLICY

Parties Eye December Deadline To Complete Briefing On SDWA PFAS Rule

EPA and other parties involved in litigation challenging Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits are hoping to complete by the end of the year the briefing that will determine the fate of the landmark rule, proposing a schedule to the D.C. Circuit that would consider “the need for prompt resolution of merits briefing in these consolidated cases.” The Sept. 12 joint unopposed motion to establish briefing format and schedule from the various parties comes soon after the Trump EPA formally asked...

Trump EPA Asks D.C. Circuit To Vacate Four PFAS Drinking Water Limits

The Trump EPA is urging the D.C. Circuit to vacate four of six Biden-era drinking water standards for PFAS, arguing the agency did not follow mandatory procedural requirements when it promulgated them, in an effort to quickly resolve legal questions over whether officials can follow through on their plan to withdraw the landmark limits. The Biden “EPA initially attempted to defend the Rule against forceful legal challenges raised in these petitions for review,” the Trump EPA says in a Sept...

California Passes Bill For PFAS Mitigation Fund To Reduce Treatment Costs

California lawmakers have passed a bill that would, if funded in future fiscal year budgets, create a PFAS mitigation fund allowing state water regulators to cover or reduce costs associated with treating PFAS in drinking water, recycled water, stormwater, and wastewater. The bill, SB 454 by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton), this week unanimously passed the state Senate and Assembly and awaits action by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Oct. 12 is the deadline for the governor to sign or veto bills...

Split Over SDWA PFAS Case, EPA, Parties Again Ask Court For More Time

The Trump EPA and other parties are split over how to proceed in litigation over the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits and are again asking the D.C. Circuit for more time, until Sept. 12, to confer on a joint proposal for a briefing schedule to continue litigation. “The parties are conferring in good faith on a briefing schedule, but have not yet reached consensus,” the parties said in an unopposed joint motion to govern filed late Sept. 10. “To afford...

Agriculture Groups Warn PFAS Biosolids Report May Raise Farming Costs

Farming groups and state agriculture officials are raising concerns that the Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids is based on incorrect assumptions and could inappropriately serve as the basis for a ban on the land application of PFAS-containing biosolids, which would limit fertilizer options and increase farming costs. “[T]he agricultural community is fearful that this risk assessment will serve as the underpinning for an overly restrictive regulation on biosolid application,” a broad coalition of agriculture-related groups...

House Slated To Delay DOD’s AFFF Phaseout After Panel Blocks Amendment

The House appears slated to approve a defense authorization bill that includes provisions slowing the Defense Department’s (DOD) phase out of PFAS-containing firefighting foam after the Rules Committee rejected amendments that sought to strip the delay as well as other amendments seeking to strengthen PFAS controls. The House began floor consideration of the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Sept. 9 following a Rules Committee vote the same day that only allowed one amendment related to per- and...

Citing EPA, DOJ Seeks To Delay AFFF MDL Scrutiny Of CERCLA Claims

The Justice Department (DOJ) is asking the court overseeing multi-district litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination from firefighting foam to stay or deny consideration of a variety of Superfund cost claims, pointing in part to uncertainty over EPA’s active review of the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as hazardous substances. In a Sept. 8 motion , DOJ asks the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to hold in abeyance Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) sections...

Capito Renews Support For PFAS Policies As EPA Weighs CERCLA Rule

Senate environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is expressing support for PFAS policies that do not impose burdens on taxpayers or essential service providers, echoing her push to shield passive receivers from Superfund liability for PFAS contamination and signaling she may be reticent to back any EPA bid to drop support for the Biden-era Superfund rule. “Senator Capito has long prioritized tackling PFAS contamination through regulations that accurately account for challenges in rural and underserved areas,” said a spokesperson...

North Carolina Panel Urged To Adopt Enforceable PFAS Groundwater Limits

Members of North Carolina’s environmental regulatory oversight panel are recommending that the full commission approve proposed enforceable groundwater standards for three PFAS, potentially finalizing a long-stalled effort from state regulators to enhance such protections, though the proposal was significantly narrowed in the review process. The Environmental Management Commission (EMC) will meet Sept. 11 to deliberate on the proposed groundwater standards for three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid...

States Doubt EPA’s PFAS Priority, Sparking Pushback From Top Official

SANTA FE, NM -- Some state officials are questioning EPA’s level of commitment to addressing PFAS pollution, particularly regarding policies on how best to destroy the chemicals, and are suggesting that states should take the lead on the issue, though a top EPA waste official is defending the agency’s approach. The concerns -- expressed during the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) fall meeting here -- also come as some states are expressing concern that the Trump EPA might reverse...

EPA Rule Agenda Details Plans To Delay, Revise Biden-Era PFAS Measures

The Trump EPA is planning to move ahead with a number of PFAS regulatory policies initiated by the Biden administration though it is expected to scale back the stringency of some of the rulemakings and in general has slowed the schedule for issuing new PFAS rules, according to the spring 2025 Unified Agenda. Released Sept. 4, the Unified Agenda -- the first to be released during President Donald Trump’s second term -- includes plans for a host of per- and...

Biosolids PFAS Report Should Reflect More Realistic Conditions, States Say

State regulators are urging the Trump EPA to revise the modeling underpinning the Biden-era draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids to make it more applicable to state-specific conditions and outcomes, cautioning that the assessment’s use of certain risk assumptions and biosolids application rates fails to reflect realistic state practices. But state agencies do not all agree on the direction EPA should take. Some state regulators argue EPA should use stricter risk scenarios, such as accounting for infants...

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)...

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