States-PFAS

States

Minnesota Urges Court To Deny Cookware Group’s Bid To Halt PFAS Law

Minnesota regulators are urging a federal district court to deny a cookware group’s bid to temporarily halt the state’s landmark prohibition of PFAS-containing cookware, arguing the state’s law does not discriminate against out-of-state sellers, as the group alleges, and allows Minnesota to prohibit the sale of products within its borders. “Like most state policy decisions, [the law] will have some effect on how out-of-state entities do business in Minnesota (as it will for in-state entities),” lawyers for Minnesota Pollution Control...

New York, New Mexico Lawmakers Introduce Bills To Tackle PFAS Pollution

Two Democratic states have introduced bills targeting PFAS contamination, from prohibiting the chemicals in consumer products to regulating them as toxic air pollutants, highlighting how combating PFAS continues to be a priority for states, especially amid fears the Trump administration will pursue a deregulatory federal agenda. The bills also come as Safer States, an alliance of environmental organizations, in its annual policy analysis said at least 29 states are expected to consider policies in 2025 to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Minnesota Regulators Seek To Delay Ban On Product Parts Containing PFAS

Minnesota regulators are urging state lawmakers to allow products under the state’s 2025 PFAS prohibition law to continue using internal components containing PFAS until 2032, arguing manufacturers need time to develop alternatives and highlighting continued difficulties in implementing PFAS product bans. Effective Jan. 1, Minnesota prohibited the sale of products containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in 11 consumer product categories: carpets or rugs, cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fabric treatments, juvenile products, menstruation products, textile furnishings,...

Analysis Finds 29 States Expected To Address PFAS Contamination In 2025

At least 29 states are expected to consider policies in 2025 to address PFAS contamination, according to an analysis from an alliance of environmental organizations, including banning PFAS in products, identifying safer alternatives, and setting drinking water limits for PFAS, signaling continued state leadership even as federal action under the Trump EPA is uncertain. Such expectations around states addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination comes amid fears the Trump administration will roll back Biden-era regulations, including the drinking water...

North Carolina Panel Eyes Ways To Speed PFAS Source Reduction Plan

A North Carolina regulatory oversight panel is pressing state regulators to speed the implementation of a PFAS source reduction plan without going through a lengthy rulemaking process, an apparent attempt to avoid the same time-consuming and burdensome steps that stalled progress on a related proposal to protect surface waters. However, members of the Water Quality Committee (WQC) -- part of North Carolina’s Environmental Management Commission (EMC) -- appeared uncertain during a Jan. 8 meeting on what path the plan could...

Industry Urges Washington State To Reevaluate Plan Banning PFAS In Paint

Industry groups are urging Washington state regulators to remove fluoropolymer-based architectural paints from their proposed list of product prohibitions, arguing that fluoropolymers do not present the same toxicity concerns as other PFAS compounds and additionally provide critical properties for architectural paints. “Because fluoropolymers have been shown to be of low concern for human health and the environment, [the Department of Ecology] should not spend limited time and resources assessing alternatives to fluoropolymers used in paints when other types of PFAS...

New Mexico’s Action Over PFAS Spill Escalates Permit Battle With Air Force

Escalating a battle over regulating PFAS in a state waste permit, New Mexico regulators have filed an enforcement action against Cannon Air Force Base (AFB) for an accidental release of more than 7,000 gallons of firefighting foam wastewater containing PFAS, arguing it violated permit mandates and signaling the state may revoke the permit. The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Jan. 7 filed an administrative compliance order against the service requiring Cannon AFB to come into compliance with the state’s Hazardous...

Minnesota Keeps PFAS Limits Below Detectable Levels In 3M Facility Permit

Minnesota regulators have slightly increased PFAS discharge limits in a revised draft permit for 3M’s Cottage Grove facility, though the limits are still below detectable levels despite concerns from the company and other industry groups that such requirements are “not reasonable, feasible or practical” for its wastewater treatment system to achieve. In a public notice published last month, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) said it recalculated the draft permit’s water quality-based effluent limits (WQBELs) for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl...

Maine Dismisses Industry Criticism In Proposal Banning PFAS In Products

Maine regulators formally proposed a rule implementing the state’s revised PFAS product prohibition law that largely mirrors the draft ‘concept’ they floated months ago, dismissing industry criticism that its currently unavoidable use (CUU) of PFAS criteria is too narrow, contains short timelines and discourages submitting confidential information. But the Dec. 20 proposed rule cuts costs that manufacturers with CUU determinations must pay when they notify the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) of their uses of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

Industry Touts TSCA Process To Oppose SCP Listing Of Hydrogen Fluoride

Industry groups are pushing California to scrap or pause its proposed “priority product” listing of cleaning products containing hydrofluoric acid (HF) under the state’s Safer Consumer Products (SCP) green chemistry program, with one saying the state should await EPA’s final decision -- potentially years away -- on whether to review the chemical under TSCA. The state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is weighing comments on its October proposal to regulate cleaning products containing HF “as a Priority Product” under...

Groups Criticize Timeline, Limits Of Minnesota PFAS Biosolids Strategy

Utilities, biosolids groups and Minnesota cities are criticizing the state’s proposed tiered strategy to prevent the land application of PFAS-contaminated biosolids, urging state regulators to wait for EPA to issue risk-based PFAS limits for biosolids in an attempt to avoid confusion and conflicting standards. EPA has long been expected to finalize a risk assessment of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) -- the two most studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- in biosolids before the end of...

District Judge Remands Connecticut PFAS Cleanup Suit To State Court

A federal district court judge has granted Connecticut’s motion to remand cleanup litigation against PFAS manufacturers to state court, joining other similar rulings in finding a state’s disclaimer against pursuing relief for contamination from firefighting foam is enough to defeat 3M’s bid to move the litigation to federal court. The Dec. 17 decision in Connecticut v. EIDP, et al. comes a little over a month after Senior Judge Stefan Underhill of the U.S. District Court for the District of...

New Hampshire Analyzing Domestic PFAS Usage Ahead Of Product Bans

Ahead of the implementation of PFAS product bans, New Hampshire has begun testing domestic septic systems to understand how residential usage of products containing the chemicals may produce PFAS concentrations in areas with no known commercial or industrial PFAS sources, providing a baseline of data to measure the effects of product bans. New Hampshire earlier this year passed legislation banning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in eight consumer product categories beginning Jan. 1, 2027, one of several states to have...

Texas Suit Alleges 3M, DuPont Hid Risks Of PFAS In Consumer Products

Texas is suing 3M and DuPont for allegedly misrepresenting the safety of their PFAS-containing consumer products, claiming the manufacturers failed to disclose known health and environmental harms from their products and signaling continued bipartisan concern about PFAS. The Texas suit filed in state court is similar to litigation brought by other states seeking to hold manufacturers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) responsible not only for contamination from PFAS-containing firefighting foam but also from the impacts of PFAS in consumer...

Environmentalists Criticize North Carolina Panel’s Delay On PFAS Limits

Environmentalists in North Carolina are criticizing the state’s regulatory oversight panel for narrowing the scope of proposed PFAS groundwater standards and generally dragging its feet on PFAS regulation while strongly backing the state’s efforts to set limits for three PFAS compounds. “North Carolina has some of the worst PFAS pollution in the nation and still has yet to regulate a single PFAS,” said Emily Donovan, co-founder of grassroots group Clean Cape Fear, in a Dec. 2 public meeting in Wilmington,...

States Face Financial, Technological Limitations In AFFF Disposal Efforts

State regulators are highlighting the difficulties they face in identifying and implementing disposal methods for PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and emphasizing the importance of state collaboration and sharing data, a key priority for states as many fire departments begin transitioning to fluorine-free firefighting foams. For example, Indiana’s program to collect and dispose of AFFF from local fire agencies ends this month with the Dec. 30 expiration of the state’s contract with a disposal company and a lack of new...

Virginia Launches PFAS Source Identification Effort Targeting Dischargers

Virginia regulators are launching an effort to identify the origin of PFAS in drinking water sources through monitoring and self-reporting of discharges from facilities that use or manufacture the chemicals with an eye to aiding drinking water systems in meeting upcoming federal drinking water limits. A state law, referred to as HB 1085/SB 243, required Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) by Dec. 1 to issue notices to applicable facilities that may be required to implement per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

New Mexico Urges 10th Circuit To Keep PFAS Permit Suit In State Court

New Mexico is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling that state courts have jurisdiction over challenges to its ability to regulate PFAS in a waste permit absent EPA action, charging that amendments to federal waste law waiving sovereign immunity supersede the Air Force’s right to have its claims heard by federal courts. Additionally, New Mexico argues the Air Force’s appeal of United States v. New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), et al. to the U.S...

North Carolina Bolsters PFAS Mandates In Manufacturer’s NPDES Permit

North Carolina has bolstered PFAS provisions in a draft wastewater permit for an automotive textile manufacturer, adding additional monitoring, reporting and research requirements that could result in PFAS limits, following public comments on an earlier version of the proposed permit that criticized the lack of PFAS-related requirements. While the initial draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for Lear Corp. only required per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) monitoring in effluent discharges, the Nov. 6 revised draft permit additionally requires...

Washington State Considers Banning PFAS In Artificial Turf, Building Paint

Washington state is considering banning artificial turf and architectural paints with intentionally added PFAS, potentially adding to the state’s existing proposal to ban or require reporting of PFAS in 12 other product categories and signaling a continued state focus on addressing PFAS in consumer products. The possible bans on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in artificial turf -- which includes artificial grass, infill and backing -- as well as architectural paints -- which include paints, primers and clearcoats such as...

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