The Biden administration on Friday announced a new proposal that could force polluters of two common PFAS compounds to pay billions of dollars for the toxic substances’ cleanup.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, the statute that guides cleanup at the nation’s most contaminated sites.
The proposal, which officials are aiming to finalize in 2023, could accelerate cleanup efforts at hundreds of manufacturing facilities, military bases, airports and other sites where the chemicals are frequently used, and which are contributing to the contamination of drinking water supplies for an estimated 200 million people nationwide.
Public health advocates largely praised the change, though some said it would fail to adequately address widespread contamination.
“Today’s historic proposal will mean PFAS polluters are finally held accountable,” said Environmental Working Group vice-president of government affairs Melanie Benesh. “For too long, they’ve had a free pass to dump PFAS into communities and poison their neighbors.”
PFAS are a class of about 12,000 chemicals typically used to make thousands of products resist water, stain and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down and accumulate in humans and the environment. A growing body of evidence links them to serious health problems like cancer, birth defects, liver problems, kidney disease and decreased immunity.
The announcement is part of a sweeping Biden administration plan designed to rein in the chemicals’ use and address contamination in drinking water and the environment. The EPA several months ago lowered health advisory limits for PFOA and PFOS, finding virtually no exposure to the chemicals is safe.
Public health advocates say PFAS producers like Chemours, 3M, BASF, DuPont and Daikin have for decades known about, but often hid, the chemicals’ dangers from regulators and the public, and should be responsible for cleanup.
“It is fair and necessary to hold polluters accountable for contaminating thousands of communities across the country, particularly because companies like 3M and Dupont did so knowingly, and with impunity,” said Christine Santillana, an Earthjustice attorney.
The Superfund law works by triggering cleanups once contamination exceeds EPA thresholds, and another provision allows the agency to sue for cost recovery. Some states automatically adopt EPA’s hazardous substance designations and could also initiate action.
Using its lobbying might, the chemical industry has for several years vehemently opposed and successfully derailed legislative and EPA efforts to designate the compounds as hazardous substances. Under the Trump EPA, political appointees effectively killed the proposals, while legislative attempts in 2018 and 2020 were stripped from bills as industry gave donations to influential congressional committee members.
The proposal has also drawn opposition from water utilities, landfills, local governments and some companies that could be responsible for cleanups, but say they are also victims of chemical industry negligence and deception. Public entities saddled with cleanup costs would probably pass those costs on to taxpayers or ratepayers.
The EPA has said the Superfund law doesn’t give it room to decide which responsible parties will be held accountable, but it acknowledged the problem and said it’s looking into solutions. Many of the questions could be settled in court.
Though most environmental groups applauded the move, the EPA’s actions “are too little and too late,” said Timothy Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and a former EPA attorney.
The hazardous waste designation addresses only two compounds and leaves thousands unaccounted for, he said, while calling on the EPA to regulate the chemicals as a class because they are so similar in structure. The EPA is also failing to track PFAS-contaminated waste, and could better manage it and protect the public under the Resource Conservation Recovery Act, Whitehouse said.
“While years down the road some communities may benefit from EPA’s action today, it does nothing to stem the tide of future Superfund sites caused by toxic PFAS contamination,” he said.
