There has been a flurry of recent federal activity regarding PFAS on the part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA has doubled down on certain regulatory fronts, defending key hazardous substance designations for PFOA and PFOS, while simultaneously scaling back certain PFAS drinking water limits. These developments, together…
Enacted into law in 2023, Minnesota’s “Products Containing PFAS” legislation, Minn. Stat. § 116.943 (also known as “Amara’s Law”), imposes obligations on manufacturers, importers, and distributors of products containing intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Specifically, the law requires manufacturers (defined to include, depending on the situation, manufacturers, brand…
On July 22, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C.) Circuit granted a motion by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lift the abeyance in consolidated litigation challenging the agency’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for PFAS, finalized by the Biden administration in April…
On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted the EPA’s third request to continue holding in abeyance consolidated litigation challenging the agency’s national drinking water regulation for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including PFOA and PFOS. The court’s order in American Water Works…
On May 14, 2025, EPA announced its intent to rescind the national drinking water standards for hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA or GenX), perfluorononanoate (PFNA), and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), as well as the hazard index used to evaluate the combined risk of those compounds and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS). These…
On May 12, 2025, EPA announced that it will again revise the reporting timeline for manufacturers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under Section 8(a)(7) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The data submission window will now open on April 13, 2026 and close on October 13, 2026, replacing…
While the Trump administration’s PFAS policy framework is beginning to take shape, uncertainties remain across the regulatory, litigation and legislative fronts. On April 28, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a set of PFAS-related actions outlining a coordinated regulatory approach to addressing PFAS contamination. However, the Agency’s only two finalized PFAS…
On May 12, 2025, 3M announced an agreement with the State of New Jersey to resolve two sets of legal liabilities related to PFAS contamination: (1) all claims that the company is currently facing or has faced related to PFAS contamination at Chambers Works manufacturing facility in Salem County, NJ…
Data centers use various chemicals that have recently been the focus of regulatory efforts at the federal and state level. The historic or future use of these chemicals may create liabilities, obligations, or new costs for both existing and planned data centers. PFAS Use in Data Centers Per- and polyfluoroalkyl…
Continuing with the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, the White House issued a Presidential Memorandum on April 9 titled Directing the Appeal of Unlawful Regulations. It instructs executive agencies to repeal regulations that, in the administration’s view, are “unlawful” in light of ten recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The directive builds…