In a
proposed rule that cleared the Office of Management and Budget, EPA is proposing to amend the TSCA Section 8(a)(7) reporting rule for PFAS-containing products by adding exemptions to ease the reporting burden and accelerate data reporting. The EPA will exempt from reporting PFAS manufactured (in mixtures or products) at concentrations less than or equal to 0.1%, imported articles, certain byproducts, impurities, chemicals related to Research and Development, and non-isolated intermediates. Originally, manufacturers had a 6-month reporting period beginning in April 2026, but the reporting time has been reduced to 3-months and will begin 60 days after the effective date of the final rule.
The fiscal year 2026 military construction
appropriations bill in the budgetary deal to re-open the US government includes funds to accelerate PFAS cleanups at closed military bases. The bill includes an additional $50 million above the initial budgetary request to address PFAS, a concern that was raised in the June 10 2025 version of the bill.
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito convened the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on
November 19th to discuss the need for congressional involvement in determining the degree of liability for passive receivers under CERCLA. Eric Gerstenberg, a co-CEO of a major waste management company, Leah Pilconis, General Counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, and Kate Bowers, Supervisory Attorney for Congressional Research Service, testified before the committee to present the status and availability of RCRA-certified high temperature incineration, Subtitle C landfills, concerns associated with building contractors facing uncertainty with construction related waste management, and the strengths and weaknesses of EPA's discretionary enforcement policy with respect to legacy and future CERCLA-related liabilities (including potential for, and ramifications of, issuing specific exemptions). A repeated request from the witnesses was EPA issued thresholds to understand the corresponding waste management protocols and permitted reuse of soil and other construction materials.
On October 29th, the CA State Water Quality Control Board issued
revised new and revised PFAS advisory levels, specifically for PFOA (Notification Level [NL] = 4 ppt; Response Level [RL] = 10 ppt), PFOS (NL = 4 ppt; RL = 40 ppt), PFHxS (NL = 3 ppt; RL = 10 ppt), and PFHxA (NL = 1,000 ppt; RL = 10,000 ppt). The RLs are based on an annual running average from 4 quarterly measurements. CA already had NLs and RLs for 5 PFAS (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFHxA, and PFBS), and the NLs listed above are new/revised for PFOA, PFOS, and PFHxA with new/revised RLs for PFHxS and PFHxA. In a related announcement, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has
announced the development of Public Health Goals for PFHxS and arsenic, a necessary step prior to establishing a Maximum Contaminant Level.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate in the UK has issued
enforcement notifications to water companies based on PFAS detections greater than 10 ng/L of more than 9,400 samples that may potentially influence more than 6 million people.
