PFAS POLICY

Judge Approves 3M’s $12.5 Billion PFAS Settlement With Water Providers

A federal judge has approved a class action settlement between 3M and water providers worth up to $12.5 billion as part of massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) over PFAS contamination, rejecting objections from a handful of parties and echoing his approval of a related, smaller settlement between DuPont and the providers. Judge Richard Gergel of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina finds in a March 29 order that the settlement -- worth between $10.5 billion and $12.5...

Water District Seeks To Avoid $61 Million Bond In PFAS Settlement Appeal

A California water district that opted out of a landmark settlement between water providers and DuPont over PFAS contamination and is now appealing the agreement’s approval is urging a federal court to reject the settling providers’ push for an appeal bond of up to $61 million, pushing back on their claims that the challenge will delay payments from the deal. “Class Counsel’s motion for a bond to cover costs on appeal under Fed. R. App. P. 7 rests in large...

EPA Faces New Calls To Broaden PFAS Risk Findings As Water Rule Looms

As EPA prepares to finalize its PFAS drinking water rule, environmentalists are renewing claims that its risk analyses of the chemicals are ignoring key health hazards they pose, particularly immune-system damage that the agency has noted but not quantified, and potential neurotoxic effects on children and teenagers that the water office is actively investigating. The agency is expected to release its final national primary drinking water regulation covering up to six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as soon as this...

Congress Urged To Wait On PFAS Liability Until EPA Adopts CERCLA Rule

The former head of EPA’s cleanup enforcement program is urging the Senate environment committee to refrain from narrowing Superfund liability for so-called passive receivers of PFAS, calling it “premature” to provide liability waivers before EPA has implemented its upcoming rule designating two PFAS as “hazardous substances.” “I applaud your efforts to find ways to protect human health and the environment from the risks of” the two most-studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS),...

EPA Backs West Virginia On Novel CWA PFAS Permit For Chemours

EPA is backing a novel industrial wastewater discharge permit proposed by West Virginia regulators that would allow Chemours to obtain a short-term permit for expanded PFAS production but only if additional conditions are met, including addressing stormwater discharges and considering limits for additional PFAS. In a letter obtained by Inside PFAS Policy , EPA Region 3 emphasizes to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) the benefits of preventing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from entering drinking water sources...

EPA’s Final PFAS Drinking Water Rule Clears White House Review

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has completed its review of EPA’s final rule to regulate PFAS in drinking water, clearing the way for the agency to set first-time enforceable limits for up to six of the thousands of chemicals in the class. According to OMB’s website, the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation Rulemaking for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) completed interagency review March 27, putting the agency ahead of a potential May deadline for ensuring rules...

FY24 Spending Law Boosts DOD’s PFAS Cleanups, Backs In-Situ Treatment

The fiscal year 2024 spending law boosts the Defense Department’s (DOD) budget for PFAS cleanups by $67.1 million and steers the department towards using “in-situ” remediation treatment to address the emerging chemicals, effectively rebuffing more-costly pump-and-treat methods, as DOD faces growing cleanup requirements under upcoming EPA rules. The $1.2 trillion appropriations package for FY24, which President Joe Biden signed March 23, includes about $824 billion in defense spending. This includes a $67.1 million increase for remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Environmentalists Urge West Virginia To Drop Planned Chemours Permit

Environmentalists are urging West Virginia regulators to drop plans to issue a Clean Water Act (CWA) permit that would allow additional PFAS discharges from a Chemours facility in the state from a planned expansion in manufacturing, arguing provisions in a publicly released draft permit would violate the state’s antidegradation policy and the CWA. “The Draft Permit fails to comply with the Clean Water Act, its regulations, and West Virginia law and therefore the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (‘WVDEP’)...

Debate Heats Up Over California Bill To Ban PFAS In Products In 2030

Debate is escalating over a bill in California that would ban the sale of new products containing intentionally added PFAS in the state beginning in 2030, following amendments to the measure that expand and clarify exemptions to the prohibition and ahead of an initial legislative policy committee hearing. Stakeholders are detailing reasons for their support or opposition to the bill, SB 903 , by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), in new comment letters to lawmakers ahead of its first hearing, which...

EPA Plans To Gather PFAS Data From Hundreds Of Water Treatment Plants

EPA is planning to gather data from hundreds of publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) on PFAS discharges from thousands of upstream industrial facilities as well as on the presence of the chemicals in POTW influent, effluent and sewage sludge, a move that will lay the groundwork for possible first-time Clean Water Act limits for a range of sectors and sources. The agency unveiled the effort in a March 26 Federal Register notice asking for feedback on a planned information...

Tyco Seeks Summary Judgment On Key PFAS Insurance Coverage Claims

Tyco Fire Products is asking a federal court to quickly find that its environmental insurance policies could be used to cover its liabilities in pending multi-district litigation (MDL) over PFAS contamination from firefighting foam, and to rule in its favor on the financial scope of the policies. In a March 18 motion for partial summary judgment , Tyco asks the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to find that several “pollution exclusions” contained in over a dozen...

EPA Unveils Latest PFAS Test Order, Boosting Program’s ‘Exposure’ Focus

EPA has released its fourth test order under its initiative to identify and study “representative” PFAS in data-poor subgroups of the chemicals, targeting a substance found in a range of products as well as biosolids while also vowing to put more “weight” on potential exposures when it selects candidates for the program. The agency on March 25 announced that it is exercising authority under the Toxic substances Control Act (TSCA) to require industry to fund new studies on N-Methylperfluorooctanesulfonamidoethanol (NMeFOSE),...

Coalition Renews Call To Add PFAS Safeguards To Semiconductor Plants

A coalition of environmental and labor groups is reiterating its calls for new or revamped semiconductor facilities to commit to environmental and safety measures, including limiting PFAS exposures, as the Commerce Department begins awarding funds under a new program aimed at rebuilding the domestic semiconductor industry. Responding to the Commerce Department’s March 20 announcement that it would award Intel Corporation $8.5 billion under the CHIPS Act, the CHIPS Communities United (CCU) coalition is urging Intel “to follow through on their...

Illinois Asks 7th Circuit To Keep Cordova Plant Claims Out Of AFFF MDL

Illinois is asking a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court’s finding that the state can pursue in state court PFAS cleanup claims stemming from a 3M manufacturing facility, arguing the decision aligns with other district court rulings that have kept some state PFAS claims out of federal multi-district litigation (MDL) governing PFAS-containing firefighting foam. “The district court correctly ruled that there is no federal jurisdiction in this case,” Illinois says in its March 13 response brief to the...

Grassroots Groups Criticize EPA For Exclusion From PFAS Workshop

North Carolina grassroots groups and a former top EPA scientist are admonishing chemicals chief Michal Freedhoff for failing to include them in a three-day private workshop aimed at bolstering the agency’s lagging PFAS testing program, charging the meeting skewed heavily towards industry input. To remedy the situation, the groups are calling on EPA to hold a public meeting on its National PFAS Testing Strategy and launch an independent peer review of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) health effects testing. Linda...

DuPont PFAS Settlement Payout Faces Delay Following Unusual Appeal

Payments from a landmark class action settlement between DuPont and water providers over PFAS contamination are facing a likely delay after a California provider that opted out of the deal appealed its final approval, prompting settling plaintiffs to seek a $61 million appeal bond from the non-settling system. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s (Met) filed a March 11 notice of appeal asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to review Judge Richard Gergel’s Feb. 8...

EWG Seeks EPA CERCLA Data, Looking To Blunt Push For PFAS Carveouts

Environmentalists are asking EPA for data on Superfund settlements it has reached with municipal landfills and water utilities, as well as its exercise of enforcement discretion in such cases, seeking to bolster their case that such entities can quickly resolve their liability while obviating the need for carveouts for such “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) filed a March 21 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) petition asking for information on the Superfund settlements EPA has reached...

Trade Advisors Urge Commerce, EPA To Narrow EU’s Broad PFAS Ban

A federal advisory panel is urging the Commerce Department to work with EPA and the European Union (EU) regulators to narrow their proposed class-based restriction on PFAS in products, raising concerns about the scope of the proposal and its impacts on trade and manufacturing supply chains. The Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee (ETTAC), a panel of private-sector representatives that counsels the department on policies to advance U.S. environmental goods and services exports, agreed at a March 12 meeting to recommend...

Carper Vows Push For Bipartisan PFAS Deal Amid CERCLA Liability Impasse

Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-DE) is pledging to work through the end of his term next January to try to reach agreement on a bipartisan PFAS bill even as the panel has deadlocked on the crucial question of whether to offer targeted Superfund liability exemptions to “passive receivers” of PFAS contamination. Carper at a March 20 hearing said he is committed to “run through the tape” until the end of his term next January,...

NIEHS Study Supports Testing Blood To Measure PFAS Exposure

A new study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) aimed at characterizing the distribution of PFAS in the body supports the use of blood levels as a measure of PFAS exposure, results that may bolster recent calls for clinicians to test for such exposures. The study, published in Environmental Science & Technology , was conducted by the Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl [PFAS] Contaminants (STEEP) program at the University of...

Pages

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