On April 28, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin formally announced the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan for regulating PFAS contamination. Administrator Zeldin’s plan aligns with the “Five Pillars” approach he announced for the Agency in February 2025.
Administrator Zeldin’s plan includes designating an EPA official to lead PFAS matters for the Agency, as well as establishing federal effluent limitation guidelines for PFAS manufacturers. The announcement emphasized EPA will be considering PFAS in all EPA program offices, continuing with research and testing initiatives, addressing PFAS in drinking water systems and “holding polluters accountable” while “providing certainty for passive receivers.”
Administrator Zeldin’s PFAS approach centers on three themes: i) strengthening the science; ii) fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication; and iii) building partnerships.
Strengthening the Science
- Designate an agency lead for PFAS to better align and manage PFAS efforts across agency programs
- Implement a PFAS testing strategy under Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 4 to seek scientific information informed by hazard characteristics and exposure pathways
- Launch additional efforts on air related PFAS information collection and measurement techniques related to air emissions
- Identify and address available information gaps where not all PFAS can be measured and controlled
- Provide more frequent updates to the PFAS Destruction and Disposal Guidance—changing from every three years to annually—as EPA continues to assess the effectiveness of available treatment technologies
- Ramp up the development of testing methods to improve detection and strategies to address PFAS
Fulfilling Statutory Obligations and Enhancing Communication
- Develop effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for PFAS manufacturers and metal finishers and evaluate other ELGs necessary for reduction of PFAS discharges
- Address the most significant compliance challenges and requests from Congress and drinking water systems related to national primary drinking water regulations for certain PFAS
- Determine how to better use RCRA authorities to address releases from manufacturing operations of both producers and users of PFAS
- Add PFAS to the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) in line with Congressional direction from the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act
- Enforce Clean Water Act and TSCA limitations on PFAS use and release to prevent further contamination
- Use Safe Drinking Water Act authority to investigate and address immediate endangerment
- Achieve more effective outcomes by prioritizing risk-based review of new and existing PFAS chemicals
- Implement section 8(a)7 to smartly collect necessary information, as Congress envisioned and consistent with TSCA, without overburdening small businesses and article importers.
- Work with Congress and industry to establish a clear liability framework that operates on polluter pays and protects passive receivers
Building Partnerships
- Advance remediation and cleanup efforts where drinking water supplies are impacted by PFAS contamination
- Work with states to assess risks from PFAS contamination and the development of analytical and risk assessment tools
- Finish public comment period for biosolids risk assessment and determine path forward based on comments
- Provide assistance to states and tribes on enforcement efforts
- Review and evaluate any pending state air petitions
- Resource and support investigations into violations to hold polluters accountable
Administrator Zeldin’s plan largely centers on improving reporting and testing of PFAS which may prove challenging with continued agency reductions in force. Zeldin announced the agency would work on ELGs for PFAS manufacturers and metal finishers and evaluate whether other ELGs are necessary to achieve reductions in PFAS discharges. The Biden Administration has submitted proposed ELGs for chemical, plastic and synthetic fiber manufacturing sectors but those limits have been withdrawn by the Trump Administration.
Administrator Zeldin’s plan notably leaves out any mention of whether the EPA will retain the Biden Administration’s PFAS drinking water limits, despite referencing the importance of addressing PFAS in drinking water in the plan. The plan also omits any mention of whether the Biden Administration’s designation of PFAS as hazardous under CERCLA will remain.
The Assistant Administrator in EPA’s Office of Water, Jessica Kramer, shared last week that EPA was actively evaluating ways to provide relief for certain compliance challenges that utilities are facing regarding the Safe Drinking Water Act’s regulation of PFAS and lead service line replacement. This indicates EPA may retain the Safe Drinking Water Act regulations pertaining to six PFAS compounds but provide additional time or other relief to help implement the requirements.
Administrator Zeldin’s announcement provides the first insight into how this Administration may handle PFAS-related federal regulations, but state PFAS regulatory activity continues to increase. We are closely monitoring these federal and state developments. Please contact your Michael Best attorney to discuss how these PFAS regulations may impact your business and operations.