States-PFAS

States

Maryland, South Carolina Urge 4th Circuit To Reject 3M’s Latest Arguments

Maryland and South Carolina are urging a federal appeals court to reject 3M’s latest argument to remove their PFAS liability suits to federal court, reemphasizing ahead of Oct. 30 oral argument that by not seeking recovery for contamination related to aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), 3M has no basis for its government contractor defense. The states’ rebuttal comes in response to a letter 3M wrote earlier this month to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit citing the 1st...

Wisconsin Urges State High Court To Reverse Ruling Voiding PFAS Listing

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is urging the state’s highest court to overturn a landmark ruling that struck down its “hazardous substance” listing for PFAS and other emerging contaminants under the state Spill Law, contending that upholding the decision would obstruct nearly all enforcement under the law and could halt cleanups at thousands of sites beyond just those with PFAS. The state appeals court decision, if left to stand, “would halt virtually all Spill Law enforcement,” DNR says...

New Hampshire Urges Court To Disregard 3M’s Latest Bid To Move PFAS Case

New Hampshire is urging a federal appeals court to reject 3M’s latest arguments seeking to move the state’s PFAS contamination suit to federal court, saying that the company cannot claim its federal and non-federal actions were intertwined when it made aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) products only for the government. 3M earlier this month cited Puerto Rico v. Express Scripts, Inc. , a recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, to back its call for removing...

Court Rejects Airport’s Request To Consolidate PFAS Cleanup Appeals

Michigan’s landmark suit against a commercial airport over PFAS releases stemming from firefighting foam use is slated to move forward, without delay, to oral argument later this month after a federal appeals court rejected the airport’s attempt to consolidate two rulings over the venue for the litigation. Without comment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued an order Oct. 17 denying the Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority’s (GFIAA) motion to consolidate the two identically named cases,...

Lawyers Warn Of California Law Boosting Enforcement Of PFAS Restrictions

Industry attorneys are warning companies involved in the manufacture and sale of products containing PFAS that California recently enacted a law that significantly bolsters registration, certification and enforcement provisions to the state’s existing and forthcoming restrictions on the use of the chemicals in juvenile products, textiles and food packaging. “The registration requirement may be the most expansive in recent memory,” attorneys with the firm DLA Piper say in an Oct. 3 blog post about the new law, AB 347 ...

Industry Fears ‘Regrettable’ Substitutions From Washington’s Draft PFAS Bans

Industry groups are criticizing Washington’s proposed rule that will ban the sale of apparel, automotive washes and cleaning products with PFAS and require reporting of the chemicals’ uses in nine other product categories, as well as the state’s consideration of total fluorine in products. “We appreciate Ecology’s efforts to move the marketplace but caution that overly aggressive or non-implementable timelines for restrictions may lead to regrettable substitutions,” said the Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) in Oct. 16 public comments...

North Carolina Establishes Interim Groundwater Limits For Eight PFAS

North Carolina’s environment department has implemented interim groundwater limits for eight PFAS despite criticisms from industry groups on the limited time for public comment and questions about whether the interim limits can even be met. The interim maximum allowable concentrations (IMACs) became effective Oct. 15 and come as North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) officials have struggled to get approval from a regulatory oversight panel for permanent groundwater standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The IMACs will remain...

States Refuse To Reject Pursuing Claims Over Mixed PFAS Contamination

Maryland and South Carolina are refusing to preclude seeking recovery for PFAS contamination in areas where contamination from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and non-AFFF sources may have commingled, marking a difference with the concession Illinois made in a similar suit that served as the basis to successfully remand its case to state court. “The States do not so concede,” Maryland and South Carolina say in an Oct. 11 letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 4th Circuit. “Nonetheless,...

Environmental Groups Back North Carolina Interim Groundwater Limits

Environmental groups are strongly supporting North Carolina’s plan to adopt interim groundwater limits for eight PFAS immediately, following a regulatory oversight panel’s decision to require the state to pursue more permanent standards for only three PFAS, but industry groups are raising concerns about whether the interim limits can be met. Strong interim maximum allowable concentrations (IMACs) “will help protect North Carolinians who rely on groundwater by establishing a clear threshold above which the state deems long term consumption of each...

Michigan Opposes Airport’s Attempt To Consolidate PFAS Cleanup Appeals

The state of Michigan is pushing back against an attempt by a commercial airport to consolidate appeals of two rulings that backed keeping in state court, rather than federal court, the state’s landmark suit that seeks to force the airport to pay for cleanup of PFAS contamination related to the airport’s use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam. The first appeal -- set for oral argument on Oct. 29 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit -- is fully...

4th Circuit Asks If States ‘Concede’ PFAS Claims On Mixed Contamination

A federal appeals court is asking Maryland and South Carolina whether they will seek recovery for mixed PFAS contamination, from both aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) sources and non-AFFF sources, in order to determine whether the states will preclude such claims from their pending actions against 3M, just as Illinois did in its successful bid to keep its case against the company in state court. “Do you, like Illinois did in Illinois ex rel. Raoul v. 3M Co. , ... concede...

Brown Presses DOD For PFAS Cleanup Agreement At Ohio Air Force Base

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is pressing the Defense Department (DOD) to take “immediate action” to address PFAS contamination stemming from an Air Force base that is threatening a sole source aquifer, including responding to a long-standing request from Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to enter into a cooperative agreement with state and local officials. “The Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer is the largest sole-source drinking water system in the United States harmed by military [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)] contamination,” said...

Vermont Urges 2nd Circuit To Back ‘Untimely Removal’ Decision In 3M’s Suit

Vermont is asking a federal appeals court to affirm a district court decision that remanded a PFAS contamination suit against 3M to state court, standing behind the lower court determination that 3M waited too long to remove the case to federal court and consequently negating any debate on whether 3M even met the requirements for a federal defense. The federal removal deadline “expired on December 2, 2023, but 3M waited until January 3, 2024, to remove. This was untimely,” attorneys...

Washington State Targets Apparel, Cleaning Products In Proposed PFAS Rule

Washington state is proposing to ban the sale of apparel, automotive washes and cleaning products with intentionally added PFAS and require reporting of PFAS use in nine other product categories, the latest in the state’s unique regulatory approach to PFAS that requires alternatives to be available before banning sales. The 12 new product categories contained in the Sept. 18 preliminary draft rule from the Washington State Department of Ecology were mandated by a 2022 state law that requires the state...

California Office Recommends PFHxA Notification Level To State Water Board

California’s health hazard assessment office is recommending a health-based notification level (NL) to the state’s water board for perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) of 1 part per billion (ppb), which if adopted would trigger various notification requirements to drinking water customers when the level is exceeded in samples. “The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is recommending that the State Water Resources Control Board [WRCB] establish the [NL] for [PFHxA] at a drinking water concentration of” 1 ppb, which is “equivalent...

California Airports Fail To Switch To Non-PFAS Firefighting Foam By Deadline

Many of California’s 30 major airports have failed to switch to non-PFAS-containing firefighting foam by a legislatively mandated Sept. 13 deadline, according to the state fire marshal’s office, due to inadequate supplies of the alternative products amid great demand. The airports “are working to comply with the requirement. Due to supply limitations and contractor availability many of the airports have not been able to fully meet the deadline,” according to a source with the Office of the State Fire Marshal...

States Seek Stronger EPA Disposal Guide Amid Residual PFAS Waste Fears

North Carolina and New Mexico’s top environment officials are urging EPA to strengthen its updated interim PFAS disposal and destruction guidance, contending that the agency’s new drinking water limits for six PFAS underscore the need for reliable treatment methods that ensure any residual waste is properly managed and not simply redistributed into the environment. North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) Secretary Elizabeth Biser and New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary James Kenney submitted Sept. 16 comments to EPA on...

California Study Reveals High PFAS Concentrations In Cosmetic Products

A recent first-time study on the amount of PFAS entering wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in California from cosmetics finds that although the prevalence of PFAS in cosmetics in relatively low, the average PFAS concentration ranges are high, which the researchers say can inform effective source reduction efforts. The study’s findings come just months before a ban on the sale of cosmetics containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) goes into effect in California on Jan. 1, 2025. Several other...

New Mexico Points To EPA Rules As It Resumes PFAS Litigation Fight With DOD

Update Appended Pointing in part to EPA regulations and the science underpinning them, New Mexico’s top environment official says the state decided that resuming litigation to defend PFAS requirements in a state waste permit would be faster than continuing drawn-out mediation talks with the Air Force over the contested permit. New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) Secretary James Kenney told Inside PFAS Policy in a Sept. 10 interview that while he cannot speak about the specifics of the past...

California Exploring Efficacy Of Broad-Spectrum PFAS Testing Methods

California is in the middle of a multistage plan to assess the efficiency of “broad-spectrum” PFAS analytical methods to better assess the presence of PFAS that conventional targeted methods are missing, taking steps toward regulating the more than 10,000 specific PFAS in drinking water as a single class. “What we’re trying to do is move towards a pragmatic approach to regulate [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)] in drinking water that covers as many of the analytes as we can --...

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