EPA Announces Formation of PFAS Council

On April 27, 2021, EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced that EPA will form a council devoted to addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in an effort to escalate the Agency’s work on the issue. The EPA Council on PFAS will be tasked with developing a strategy for addressing PFAS in water, air and land. The council will be led by Office of Water Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Radhika Fox, and Region 1 acting Administrator, Deb Szaro. The council will include senior EPA officials from a broad range of program offices and regions. The council will engage with states, tribes, communities and stakeholders and report back to Administrator Regan within 100 days about a multi-year plan to address critical human health and environmental protections. The Council is not meant to supplant the current EPA PFAS Action Plan, but will compliment and attempt to focus the agency’s PFAS activities.

Environmental and health groups repeatedly criticized the Trump Administration for its slow movement around PFAS. The Biden Administration has moved forward with several regulatory initiatives such as regulating PFOA and PFOS in drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and whether to designate PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances under federal Superfund law.

The president also proposed $10 billion to monitor and remediate PFAS in drinking water and other water systems as part of his infrastructure plan. PFAS were also singled out in Biden's budget proposal for EPA, with $75 million to accelerate toxicity studies and research on PFAS chemicals.

States, environmental groups, and industry trade groups have been generally supportive of the EPA Council on PFAS. Industry representatives noted that PFAS are a large and diverse family of chemistry found in many useful products, ranging from cellphones to medical applications, and they should be assessed as individual chemicals, not as a class.

Stakeholders have encouraged EPA to take a sound science-based approach to these chemicals and to include other federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug Administration in the process. For more information on this issue, please contact Jeff Hannapel with NASF at jhannapel@thepolicygroup.com.