In two of our previous posts, we discussed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Hazardous Substance” Designation Process and the Implications of a Designation on Responsible Parties. Here, in this post, we discuss what a designation of PFOA and PFOS might mean for ongoing investigations and remediations lead by EPA.
Current EPA Interim
As previously reported, the Biden administrative is expected to make PFAS regulation and enforcement a priority by, among other things: designating PFAS as hazardous substances, setting enforceable limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, prioritizing substitutes through procurement policies, and accelerating toxicity studies and research. Plan to Secure Environmental Justice and Economic Opportunity.
On
The Biden Administration has pledged to designate certain PFAS as hazardous substances under federal law. What effect would the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) designation of PFOA and PFOS as “hazardous substances” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) have on the legal landscape? As you may recall, in a previous
For the past several years, much attention has been focused on the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) legal authority to respond to PFAS contamination. When EPA published its PFAS Action Plan in February 2019, it discussed, among other things, designating PFOS and PFOA as “hazardous substances” through one of the available statutory mechanisms under
In September 2020, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) finalized the settlement of an enforcement action against Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB), a federal facility, relating to the facility’s discharge of PFAS-containing wastewater to groundwater without a permit. According to the allegations of an administrative compliance order (ACO) issued in January 2020, CAFB had an
In July 2020, we posted on takeback disposal options for some PFAS-containing firefighting foams, with a caveat about recent actions taken by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) to suspend incineration of AFFF that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) had sent to a hazardous waste facility in Cohoes, NY, pending the
In a previous post, we noted the New Hampshire Superior Court’s issuance of a preliminary injunction enjoining the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) from implementing final maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) and ambient groundwater quality (AGQS) standards for four PFAS compounds. On July 23, 2020, Governor Chris Sununu signed into law legislation
As the political season begins in earnest with the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, PFAS is one subject for which regulatory action already under consideration may be accelerated if the White House changes hands from Republican to Democrat.
According to Biden’s “Plan to Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economic Opportunity,” three steps that
According to ITRC, 13 states (Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont) regulate PFAS in drinking water through an MCL, screening level and/or action level. Some states, including New Jersey and Massachusetts, are now regulating PFAS in water discharges. Regulation of water discharges containing
Regulatory attention is focused on the presence of certain man-made substances in the environment at trace levels (parts per trillion or ppt). The science regarding whether these trace levels cause harm is not well developed. However, there is growing awareness that some of these substances are detectable in nearly all U.S. blood samples, and they
