On April 28, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlined upcoming Agency action to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). According to EPA’s announcement, “[i]n line with Administrator Zeldin’s Powering the Great American Comeback initiative, EPA’s work in this space will advance Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American, and Pillar 3: Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership.” EPA states that these actions “are guided by the following principles: strengthening the science, fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication, and building partnerships.” EPA plans additional actions and decisions across its program offices to help communities impacted by PFAS contamination. Below are the actions outlined on April 28, 2025, as well as links to our memoranda and blogs for more information.
Strengthening the Science
- Designate an Agency lead for PFAS to align and manage better PFAS efforts across Agency programs.
- Implement a PFAS testing strategy under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 4 to seek scientific information informed by hazard characteristics and exposure pathways. More information is available in memoranda on EPA’s first, second, third, fourth, and fifth test orders for PFAS.
- Launch additional efforts on air-related PFAS information collection and measurement techniques related to air emissions.
- Identify and address available information gaps where not all PFAS can be measured and controlled.
- Provide more frequent updates to the PFAS Destruction and Disposal Guidance — changing from every three years to annually — as EPA continues to assess the effectiveness of available treatment technologies. More information on EPA’s updated interim guidance is available in our May 7, 2024, memorandum.
- Ramp up the development of testing methods to improve detection and strategies to address PFAS.
Fulfilling Statutory Obligations and Enhancing Communication
- Develop effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) for PFAS manufacturers and metal finishers and evaluate other ELGs necessary for reduction of PFAS discharges.
- Address the most significant compliance challenges and requests from Congress and drinking water systems related to national primary drinking water regulations (NPDWR) for certain PFAS. More information on EPA’s drafting water standards for PFAS is available in our May 9, 2024, memorandum.
- Determine how to use better Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) authorities to address releases from manufacturing operations of both producers and users of PFAS. More information on two proposed rules that would modify the definition of hazardous waste as it applies to cleanups at permitted hazardous waste facilities and that would amend the RCRA regulations to add multiple PFAS compounds as hazardous constituents is available in our February 5, 2024, memorandum.
- Add PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in line with congressional direction from the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Available resources include:
- May 22, 2024, blog item on final rule updating the list of TRI chemicals to add seven PFAS;
- October 17, 2024, memorandum on proposal to add 16 individual PFAS and 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual PFAS to the TRI list of chemicals;
- January 13, 2025, blog item on the addition of nine PFAS and February 7, 2025, blog item on the postponement of the addition; and
- January 22, 2025, blog item, on a proposed rule clarifying the supplier notification requirements for TRI-listed PFAS and February 24, 2025, blog item on the reopened comment period.
- May 22, 2024, blog item on final rule updating the list of TRI chemicals to add seven PFAS;
- Enforce Clean Water Act (CWA) and TSCA limitations on PFAS use and release to prevent further contamination.
- Use Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) authority to investigate and address immediate endangerment.
- Achieve more effective outcomes by prioritizing risk-based review of new and existing PFAS chemicals.
- Implement TSCA Section 8(a)7 “to smartly collect necessary information, as Congress envisioned and consistent with TSCA, without overburdening small businesses and article importers.” More information on EPA’s reporting rule and postponement of the submission period is available in our October 3, 2023, memorandum and September 4, 2024, blog item.
- Work with Congress and industry to establish a clear liability framework that operates on polluter pays and protects passive receivers.
Building Partnerships
- Advance remediation and cleanup efforts where drinking water supplies are impacted by PFAS contamination.
- Work with states to assess risks from PFAS contamination and the development of analytical and risk assessment tools.
- Finish public comment period for biosolids risk assessment and determine path forward based on comments. More information on the draft risk assessment and reopened comment period is available in our January 14 and April 28, 2025, blog items.
- Provide assistance to states and tribes on enforcement efforts.
- Review and evaluate any pending state air petitions.
- Resource and support investigations into violations to hold polluters accountable.
Commentary
EPA’s continued “all of EPA” approach is welcome news. PFAS continues to be a significant issue that drives public concern. EPA is likely to continue to approach PFAS organized in several chemical category bins: medium- and long-chain perfluorocarboxylates and perfluorosulfonates and substances that degrade into them, short-chain PFAS, fluoropolymers, fluorinated gases, and other substances. Each bin represents a different potential for risk because of the extraordinary breadth of properties and toxicities between and among PFAS. This is in marked contrast to states that define PFAS so broadly that there are some members that contain only a single fluorine and include PFAS that are not persistent or bioaccumulative. Some states seem to be taking a more measured approach, like New Mexico, but it remains to be seen if this is a trend or exception.
We remain concerned that EPA is relying on science that finds a correlation between changes in antibody response that are small relative to natural variability. As the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) noted in 2023, “it is well known that, in a normal vaccine response, there is already a wide distribution in the levels of titers considered normal. Changes of 30% or more in antibody titers can be within normal variations of IgG for the general population.” While it is natural to want to rely on the most protective level that has been identified in any study, an inappropriately protective approach may lead EPA to impose costly control measures that do not lead to actual health protection.