PFAS POLICY

Petitioners Say EPA’s RCRA Plan For Addressing PFAS ‘Not Enough’

New Mexico and the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which had petitioned EPA to list all PFAS as “hazardous waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), say the agency’s alternative proposal to list nine PFAS as “hazardous constituents” fails to fully address their petitions. While the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) supports EPA’s proposal to list nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as RCRA hazardous constituents, it says in April 8 comments to the agency...

EPA Defends PFAS Rule’s Benefits Despite Potential Disposal Cost Increase

EPA says the cost for utilities of implementing its first-time drinking water rule for six PFAS could rise by 7 percent above its $1.5 billion annual cost estimate if they choose strict hazardous waste disposal methods for disposing of treatment residuals due to concerns that an upcoming Superfund rule will limit their disposal options. But EPA is nevertheless defending the drinking water rule as warranted, saying while the quantifiable benefits and costs are on par with each other at about...

California Adopts PHGs For Key PFAS As EPA Issues Drinking Water Levels

California scientists have adopted public health goals (PHGs) for the two most-studied PFAS, teeing up an effort by state water regulators to develop drinking water maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for the chemicals -- though the state plans to follow on an interim basis first-time national MCLs for these and four other PFAS that EPA just finalized. California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) on April 5 announced the adoption of PHGs for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid...

States Raise Suite Of Concerns Over PFAS Water Rule Implementation

State regulators are raising funding and other concerns about implementing EPA’s just-finalized PFAS drinking water standard, even while some are explicitly supporting the limits for six PFAS, noting the increased workload the new rule will bring to states and competing priorities for other drinking water requirements. The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA), which represents state drinking water regulators, says in an April 10 statement that it supports EPA’s drinking water standards for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),...

In First-Time Rule, EPA Sets Strict Limits For Six PFAS In Drinking Water

EPA has set first-time enforceable limits for six PFAS in drinking water similar to strict limits it proposed last year while adopting new measures to ease compliance for water systems -- including extending the compliance window to five years -- and underscoring efforts to provide billions of federal dollars to aid in meeting the new standard. The final rule sets individual enforceable limits for five of the six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) the measure regulates, three more than EPA...

EPA Issues PFAS Disposal Guidance Ahead Of Water, Cleanup Rules

EPA has released a long-awaited update to its interim disposal guide for PFAS that continues to highlight methods from its 2020 guidance -- interim storage, landfilling, underground injection control (UIC) and thermal treatment including incinerations under certain conditions -- as less likely to pose environmental impacts than other methods. EPA April 9 issued its updated “Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Materials Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances [(PFAS)],” a day after the White...

Environmentalists Urge Minnesota To Limit Time For PFAS Unavoidable Uses

Environmentalists are urging Minnesota regulators to limit the time products with PFAS can be exempted from a class-wide state ban based on a finding that the chemicals’ use is “currently unavoidable,” saying such determinations should be periodically reviewed and industry should be required to prove there are not safer alternatives. “A currently unavoidable use determination should be reevaluated at least every five years,” the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) says in comments to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) aimed...

EPA, GSA Direct Custodial Contracts To Buy PFAS-Free Cleaning Products

EPA and the General Services Administration (GSA) have collaborated on an effort requiring government contractors offering custodial services to purchase PFAS-free cleaning products for use in federal buildings, with the adoption expected to take place on most of GSA’s 600-plus contracts within the next five years, EPA says. EPA April 8 announced the action to eliminate PFAS from federal government custodial contracts, saying the change is reflected in GSA’s national custodial specification . It comes after EPA and GSA collaborated...

Colorado House Panel Returns Cleaning Products To Bill Regulating PFAS

Responding to concerns from municipal wastewater treatment facilities, a Colorado House panel has returned most cleaning products to a list of items in a pending bill that seeks to ban the use of intentionally added PFAS, although the amended bill includes a narrower definition of “cleaning products” compared with an earlier version. The state House Business Affairs and Labor Committee April 4 approved an amended version of SB24-081 , which has already passed the state Senate, clearing the way for...

Wisconsin Asks State High Court To Review Ruling Voiding PFAS Listing

Wisconsin’s environment department is asking the state’s highest court to review and reverse a lower court decision that struck down Wisconsin’s “hazardous substance” listing for PFAS and other emerging contaminants -- a ruling that upends long-held legal interpretations and effectively blocks the state from requiring cleanups of PFAS without first completing a rulemaking. A March 6 ruling by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals in Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Inc. (WMC), et al. v. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), et...

Connecticut Class Action Sought Over PFAS Air Releases Impacting Water

Residents of a Connecticut town are seeking class action status in a lawsuit that contends a tissue manufacturer’s use of PFAS -- which may have been unintentional in recent years -- has caused personal injury and property damages allegedly stemming from facility air emissions, part of what one attorney says is an emerging trend to tie such suits to air releases. The recently filed lawsuit by plaintiffs residing in New Milford, CT, against the paper goods manufacturer Kimberly-Clark “is notable...

Judge Dismisses PFAS Suit Targeting REI’s Sustainability Pledge

A federal judge has granted Recreational Equipment Inc.’s (REI) request to dismiss litigation targeting the company’s marketing on sustainability as misleading, finding the plaintiff in the case failed to establish he was injured by his purchase of a raincoat containing PFAS and failed to meet the requirements for making fraud claims. The March 29 ruling from Judge Benjamin Settle of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington adds to a growing body of case law rejecting plaintiffs’...

EPA’s SDWA Rule Expected To Trigger DOD Review Of PFAS Cleanups

EPA’s rule regulating up to six PFAS in drinking water, which appears poised to be released next week, is expected to trigger a Defense Department (DOD) reconsideration of PFAS cleanups at its multitude of bases -- potentially prompting new actions if the rule, as expected, sets limits for the chemicals much stricter than the levels DOD has been using. With the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completing interagency review of EPA’s final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation...

Michigan Fears Weakened Rulemaking Authorities If PFAS Ruling Stands

Michigan is urging the state’s highest court to reverse a ruling that invalidated the state’s drinking water standards for seven PFAS due to its failure to calculate all compliance costs, with Michigan contending the decision contradicts state law and, if upheld, would give courts overreaching powers into rulemakings in violation of the judiciary’s longstanding deferential approach. At stake is the state’s drinking water standards for seven per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and whether Michigan will be forced to go back...

Sweeping California PFAS-Ban Bill Advances After Key Provisions Eased

A bill in California’s Senate that would ban the sale of any new product containing intentionally added PFAS is advancing after the author agreed to push back the proposed 2030 effective date and potentially allow several years for companies to petition state regulators to exempt certain “essential use” products, in addition to considering other amendments to relax the measure. “My office is working with [the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)] now to figure out an appropriate timeline,” Sen. Nancy...

Environmentalists Weigh Legal Action Over Colorado PFAS Water Permit

Environmentalists are weighing whether to take legal action against Colorado over first-time PFAS discharge limits and related requirements the state inserted in a recently issued final wastewater discharge permit for an oil refinery, arguing the state should have set stricter discharge limits as it wrongly relied on outdated EPA health advisory levels. “It’s highly inconsistent for [Colorado’s] Water Division to (1) first rely on EPA’s judgment about a healthy level of PFAS, and (2) then ignore when EPA updates that...

Court Weighs PFAS ‘New Use’ Policy Following Landmark 5th Circuit Ruling

A federal district court in Pennsylvania is weighing next steps for a closely watched suit where EPA and environmentalists are seeking to enforce a Trump-era rule limiting “significant new uses” of PFAS, weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in a landmark decision, rejected their reading of the same rule in a parallel case. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has set a status conference for April 9 in United States, et...

Colorado House Poised To Weigh Bill Adding Limits On PFAS In Products

A Colorado House panel is poised to weigh state Senate legislation that would ban the sale of several categories of products containing intentionally added PFAS, although senators amended the bill on the floor to delay compliance dates and to clarify the scope of veterinary products already exempted from product bans. The legislation, SB24-081 , is scheduled for an April 4 hearing in the House Business Affairs and Labor Committee. State Sen. Lisa Cutter (D), the bill’s sponsor, had pledged to...

Industry Groups Oppose Waste Definition Rule, Contend EPA Overreach

Industry groups are opposing EPA’s proposed “hazardous waste” definition rule, arguing the agency is overstepping its legal authority by broadening what substances can be regulated as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act’s (RCRA) corrective action program and contending the rule is unneeded to address PFAS. “EPA does not have statutory authority to require corrective action under RCRA for releases of hazardous waste based on the statutory definition of hazardous waste in Section 1004(5),” the American Chemistry Council...

Plaintiffs Seek To Sever Bankrupt Foam Company Claims To Ease MDL Trials

Plaintiffs from 23 cases in multidistrict litigation (MDL) over contamination linked to PFAS-containing firefighting foam are asking a federal court to sever the foam seller Kidde Fenwal Inc. (KFI) and several related firms from their suits -- a move they say will prevent the firm’s bankruptcy from complicating upcoming bellwether trials. KFI filed for bankruptcy last year, citing numerous MDL claims it faces over contamination linked to aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). “Based on the...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.