On January 23, 2023, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted EPA’s motion to dismiss a petition filed by the American Chemistry Council (“ACC”) challenging EPA’s interim Lifetime Health Advisory Levels (“HALs”) for perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA (0.004 ppt) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid PFOS (0.02 ppt). 

The unpublished order concluded that ACC had failed to establish standing, stating, “[d]espite relying on associational standing, petitioner has neither alleged that the challenged conduct affects all of its members nor identified any specific member who would have standing to pursue this action.”  The order further provided that, “petitioner has pointed to alleged harm facing an indirect subsidiary of one of its members, it has not shown that the member itself is suffering any injury or would have standing to sue based on the subsidiary’s alleged injury.”

As previously reported, the Third Circuit denied the EPA’s motion to dismiss the GenX HAL challenge filed by Chemours.  Notably, neither the D.C. Circuit nor the Third Circuit has reached the merits of the case, leaving open the validity of the final advisory levels. 

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EPA Files Motion to Dismiss ACC Petition for Review of PFOA and PFOS HALs and Reports Proposed MCLs are Expected in 2022 | PFAS and Emerging Contaminants (foxrothschild.com)