Environmental cleanups are expected to grow exponentially for group of thousands of chemicals with wide business and consumer use, as municipal legal actions rise and Biden administration aims to tighten rules.
The Feb. 20 proposal calls for establishing maximum contaminant levels for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). EPA also proposed regulating imported products that contain certain long-chain PFAS chemicals that are used as surface coatings.
A defense bill released by a congressional conference committee Dec. 9 dropped provisions that would have restricted discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances—a class of chemical compounds known as PFAS—from manufacturers into water supplies and designated PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the federal Superfund law.
As the number of communities in the U.S. discovering high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in water supplies continues to grow, industry and local officials are waiting on legislative and regulatory leadership to set limits and standards for this pollutant class.
At a Sept. 10 hearing, Democrats and some Republicans on the House Oversight Committee asked witnesses what lawmakers could do to begin to address the problem of PFAS.
Two environmental groups are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate and require the cleanup of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and list them as hazardous substances under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.
While the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a clean up standard of 70 parts per trillion for some PFAS chemicals, the Environmental Working Group says a safe standard is 1 part per trillion.