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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Tom Perkins

US firms exploiting Trump-era loophole over toxic ‘forever chemicals’

A sign in Oscoda, Michigan warns hunters not to eat deer because of high amounts of toxic chemicals in their meat.
A sign in Oscoda, Michigan, warns hunters not to eat deer because of high amounts of toxic chemicals in their meat. Photograph: Drew YoungeDyke/AP

Chemical companies are dodging a federal law designed to track how many PFAS “forever chemicals” their plants are discharging into the environment by exploiting a loophole created in the Trump administration’s final months, a new analysis of federal records has found.

The Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act put in place requirements that companies discharging over 100lb annually of the dangerous chemicals report the releases to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But during the implementation process, Trump’s EPA created an unusual loophole that at least five chemical companies have exploited.

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