EPA Announces National Strategy to Tackle PFAS Pollution

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan on Monday announced the agency’s “comprehensive strategic roadmap” to confront PFAS contamination nationwide.
 
The roadmap is the result of a thorough analysis conducted by the EPA Council on PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which Regan established in April 2021. The roadmap has three guiding strategies: increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take action now to restrict PFAS chemicals from being released into the environment, and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS contamination.
 
Scientific research has found links between exposures to PFAS and a wide range of health problems from a weaker immune system to cancer, heightened cholesterol levels, pregnancy-induced hypertension, reduced fertility, increased risk of thyroid disease and liver damage. PFAS are sold application to paper and textiles as stain-resistant, water-repellent, and grease-proofing treatments.
 
“For far too long, families across America – especially those in underserved communities – have suffered from PFAS in their water, their air, or in the land their children play on,” said Regan. “This comprehensive, national PFAS strategy will deliver protections to people who are hurting, by advancing bold and concrete actions that address the full lifecycle of these chemicals. Let there be no doubt that EPA is listening, we have your back, and we are laser focused on protecting people from pollution and holding polluters accountable.”
 
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said the roadmap commits the EPA to set speedy enforceable drinking water limits for these chemicals and provide communities with stronger tools to protect people’s health and the environment.
 
President Biden has called for more than $10 billion in funding to address PFAS contamination through his Build Back Better agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. These resources will enable EPA and other federal agencies to scale up the research and work, so that they meet the scale of the PFAS challenge.
 
“As we continue partnering with the EPA on this and other important efforts, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the larger budget resolution would provide critical help by dedicating significant resources to address PFAS contamination,” said Cooper.
 
With the roadmap’s release, the EPA also announces a new national testing strategy that requires PFAS manufacturers to provide the agency with toxicity data and information on categories of PFAS chemicals. 
 
The testing will be selected based on an approach that breaks the large number of current PFAS into smaller categories based on similar features, and considers what existing data are available for each category.
 
Senator Tom Carper called it “a soup-to-nuts plan—one that commits to cleaning up PFAS in our environment while also putting protections in place to prevent more of these forever chemicals from finding their way into our lives. After the previous administration failed to follow through on its plan to address PFAS contamination, EPA’s new leadership promised action. I look forward to working with them on living up to this commitment.”
 
EPA’s initial set of test orders for PFAS – which are expected in the coming months – will be strategically selected from more than 20 different categories of PFAS. This set of orders will provide the agency with critical information on more than 2,000 other similar PFAS that fall within these categories.
 
THE ROADMAP

The roadmap lays out the following:

• Aggressive timelines to set enforceable drinking water limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure water is safe to drink in every community;
• A hazardous substance designation under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), to strengthen the ability to hold polluters financially accountable;
• Timelines for action—whether it is data collection or rulemaking—on Effluent Guideline Limitations under the Clean Water Act for nine industrial categories;
• A review of past actions on PFAS taken under the Toxic Substances Control Act to address those that are insufficiently protective;
• Increased monitoring, data collection and research so that the agency can identify what actions are needed and when to take them;
• A final toxicity assessment for GenX, which can be used to develop health advisories that will help communities make informed decisions to better protect human health and ecological wellness; and
• Continued efforts to build the technical foundation needed on PFAS air emissions to inform future actions under the Clean Air Act.   

“Communities contaminated by these toxic forever chemicals have waited decades for action,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group (EWG). “It’s good news that Administrator Regan will fulfill President Biden’s pledge to take quick action to reduce PFOA and PFOS in tap water, to restrict industrial releases of PFAS into the air and water, and to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances to hold polluters accountable. It’s been more than 20 years since EPA and EWG first learned that these toxic forever chemicals were building up in our blood and increasing our likelihood of cancer and other health harms. It’s time for action, not more plans, and that’s what this Administrator will deliver. As significant as these actions are, they are just the first of many actions needed to protect us from PFAS, as the administrator has said.”
 
While government leaders applauded EPA’s efforts, one grassroots organization has expressed skepticism about the plan, asserting the roadmap is not enough to address PFAS, which some activists say should be banned.   
 
“This plan falls far short on preventing new PFAS contamination,” said Laurie Valeriano, executive director of Toxic-Free Future, a grassroots organization which advocates for the use of safer products, chemicals and practices through advanced research and consumer engagement. “EPA is failing, while Washington and other states are taking prevention-based actions, banning PFAS in products when safer solutions are identified. This is a rational approach to protect people and our earth—other states and the federal government should step up and ban PFAS in products.”
 
Mike Schade, a director of Mind the Store, a program with Toxic-Free Future, says the EPA roadmap is “out of sync” with the actions of the business community.
 
Over the past two years, 18 retailers selling food or food packaging announced steps to reduce or eliminate PFAS in food packaging at their more than 77,000 stores.
 
PFAS IN COSMETICS

In June, US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced the No PFAS in Cosmetics Act, which would ban the inclusion of PFAS chemicals in cosmetics products, such as make-up, moisturizer and perfume. The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Angus King (I-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). A similar bill was to be introduced in the House by Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI-12). The planned legislation was introduced following the June 15, 2021 publication of a new study in which researchers found high fluorine levels—indicating the probable presence of PFAS—in most tested waterproof mascaras, liquid lipsticks and foundations. Some of the products with the highest fluorine levels underwent further analysis and were all confirmed to contain at least four PFAS of concern. The majority of products with high fluorine, including those confirmed to have PFAS, had no PFAS listed on the label.

NATIONAL WEBINARS

EPA said will be working to partner for progress on PFAS in the coming weeks. The agency will engage with a wide range of stakeholders to continue to identify collaborative solutions to the PFAS challenge, including two national webinars that will be held on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.