ILTA, working closely with the PFAS Coalition, successfully fended off demands by House Democrats to require the EPA to list two chemicals—PFOA and PFOS—as hazardous for the purposes of Superfund and to set drinking water limits for those and other PFAS chemicals. Efforts to include the provisions in both the National Defense Authorization bill and in the final appropriations package failed.
The PFAS Coalition’s position is that these are not decisions the Congress should make. It stated that it is better to allow the EPA and related agencies, using full notice and comment rulemaking, to make decision on PFAS chemicals on a case-by-case basis using the best science available.
The end-of-the-year appropriations package includes $251 million for research to help develop a firefighting foam that both works and does not contain PFAS.