PFAS POLICY

Environmentalists Urge EPA To Finalize PFAS Biosolids Report As Drafted

As EPA prepares to close a lengthy comment period on its draft risk assessment of two legacy PFAS in biosolids, environmentalists are pressing the agency to finalize the document and quickly begin work to regulate the chemicals, though industry groups have said the assessment overstated the potential risks. In a recent comment letter, the Waterkeeper Alliance (WKA) raised concerns about the significant environmental and health risks posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in biosolids and cautioned against efforts to...

Chemours Appeals Order Requiring Immediate PFAS Discharge Reductions

PFAS manufacturer Chemours is appealing a federal court’s order requiring the company to immediately reduce its discharges of a next-generation PFAS to comply with its wastewater discharge permit, after the judge reinforced the court’s authority to grant preliminary injunctive relief to citizens seeking to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Aug. 12 docketed Chemours’ petition seeking review of Judge Joseph Goodwin’s Aug. 7 order in West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) v....

Court Dismisses Cookware Group’s Challenge To Minnesota PFAS Bans

A federal district court judge has dismissed a challenge to Minnesota’s landmark PFAS product prohibitions law brought by cookware manufacturers, finding the plaintiff failed to make its case under the Dormant Commerce Clause in a case that tested whether state product regulations could survive such legal action. In an Aug. 11 opinion and order , Senior Judge John R. Tunheim of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota granted a motion from Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner...

Judge Orders Chemours To Curb PFAS Releases In Line With CWA Permit

A federal judge is ordering PFAS manufacturer Chemours to immediately restrict its discharges of a GenX chemical at its Washington Works plant into the Ohio River -- even if that means curbing production -- with the court agreeing with environmentalists that the company’s violations of its Clean Water Act (CWA) permit are causing irreparable harm. In an Aug. 7 order , Judge Joseph Goodwin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted environmentalists’ request for...

DOD Delays AFFF Ban By One More Year, Citing Replacement Hurdles

The Department of Defense (DOD) has formally extended its deadline to end the use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which contains PFAS, by one year to Oct. 1, 2026, utilizing the second of two year-long extensions and arguing it needs more time to successfully transition to PFAS-free alternatives. “I have determined that the second waiver of the prohibition with a statutory deadline of October 1, 2026 is necessary to sustain the operational availability of sufficient firefighting systems to ensure the...

States Ready Supreme Court Petition To Review PFAS Venue Decision

South Carolina and Maryland are planning to ask the Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that backed 3M’s bid to remove their PFAS contamination suits to federal court, opening the door to a legal reckoning over whether defendants will be able to keep such suits in federal court where they can raise the government contractor defense. As such, if Maryland and South Carolina succeed, it could allow several other states to keep their similar claims against 3M and other...

Gillibrand Reintroduces Bill Requiring DOD To Monitor PFAS In Stormwater

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has reintroduced legislation that would require military facilities to monitor PFAS discharges in stormwater runoff and implement best management practices (BMP) to reduce such discharges, mandating that at least 1 percent of funds allocated for Defense Department (DOD) PFAS remediation be used toward these actions. “Access to clean, safe water is a human right,” Gillibrand said in a July 28 press release . “This legislation will not only protect service members, firefighters, and communities from toxic...

Bolstering Cookware Sector, FDA Backs Fluoropolymers In Medical Devices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is defending the use of certain fluoropolymers, a subset of PFAS, in medical devices, a move that appears to bolster long-running industry efforts to exempt cookware and possibly other products manufactured with the chemicals from state product prohibitions. “The PFAS used in medical devices are not the same as those identified as being potentially harmful to people in other contexts,” FDA says in an Aug. 6 update on its website. “The FDA’s evaluation is...

D.C. Circuit Sets Sept. 10 Deadline To File Motions In PFAS SDWA Case

The D.C. Circuit is requiring EPA and other parties in litigation challenging the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits to file motions to govern future proceedings by Sept. 10, actions that will likely clarify how the Trump EPA will proceed with its proposed changes to the landmark PFAS regulation. According to an Aug. 7 order in the consolidated American Water Works Association, et al. v. EPA , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit orders “that the parties file...

PFAS Receivers Press EPA To Issue Biosolids Guide, Revise Assessment

A group representing PFAS receivers, such as wastewater utilities and landfills, is urging EPA to issue interim guidance on the land application of biosolids to combat the uncertainty it says the agency’s draft risk assessment for two PFAS in biosolids has caused, arguing it would also give EPA more time to appropriately revise the risk assessment. “The absence of any risk management analysis contextualizing the Draft Risk Assessment -- which EPA has historically completed at the same time as its...

States Wrestle With Uncertainty As Trump EPA Reworks SDWA PFAS Rule

The Trump EPA’s efforts to rescind and alter aspects of the Biden-era PFAS drinking water rule is leaving states in a tough spot, disrupting their efforts to implement the rule’s looming monitoring deadlines as well as some states’ efforts to seek primacy to implement the regulation. The “top line to me gets down to regulatory uncertainty,” one state source says. At issue are the Trump EPA’s plans to pare back aspects of the 2024 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) rule...

Residents File RCRA Suit Against Agriculture Giant Over PFAS Releases

Maryland residents have filed suit against agriculture giant Perdue AgriBusiness under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) over alleged PFAS contamination stemming from various activities at a local industrial complex, piggybacking on a separate class action suit brought last year over the same plant’s releases. “On behalf of two local residents, we have filed a lawsuit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), alleging that Perdue AgriBusiness continues to unlawfully dispose of PFAS-laced waste from its Salisbury facility,”...

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...

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