PFAS Stakeholders Prepare for Upcoming EPA Actions Following PFAS Strategic Roadmap Publication

This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continued prioritization of addressing PFAS by taking the first steps to implement drinking water standards for the class of chemicals. On November 16, the EPA requested that their Science Advisory Board review draft documents of PFOA and PFOS health effects in drinking water. This new research has suggested that negative health effects from these chemicals, which have been components of AFFF in the past, occur at lower concentrations than previously suggested and will likely lead to a lower Maximum Contaminant Level in drinking water standards when it is published in Fall of 2022.

This was the EPA’s third public action since publishing their PFAS Strategic Roadmap on October 18, following two rulemaking efforts under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the final health toxicity assessment for GenX Chemicals. The rapid pace of rulemaking coincides with a wide variety of stakeholders taking actions related to PFAS, including:

• The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) updated their standards for Phase I environmental site assessments to include PFAS. If PFAS is regulated by the state, users may include PFAS in site assessments.
• Several AFFF producers are requesting immunity in a multi-district litigation case addressing claims of PFAS contamination.
• Several states are requesting that the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) office’s plan for assessing PFAS risk should reevaluate which specific PFAS are prioritized.
• Legislators from Washington have formally requested that the FAA enable airports to switch to PFAS-free firefighting foam.

Additionally, new Federal PFAS legislation is included in the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022. The bill contains several PFAS provisions originally included in the proposed PFAS Action Act of 2021. The NDAA, which passed the House of Representatives and is slated for a late December vote in the Senate, contains more than 800 amendments and the final PFAS-specific language is subject to change.