The Environmental Protection Agency is ensuring that polluters remain responsible for cleaning up “forever chemicals” — those hazardous compounds linked to serious health risks. This critical decision comes despite significant opposition from the chemical industry.
Announced late Wednesday, this decision was made even after a former industry lawyer, now holding a high-ranking position within the EPA, attempted to overturn the regulation.
However, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin chose to uphold the rule. This is a notable departure for an agency that has generally favored deregulation. The EPA now faces the task of defending this rule against anticipated lawsuits from the industry.
In a statement, Mr. Zeldin acknowledged that “holding polluters accountable” while simultaneously safeguarding the public from the PFAS family of chemicals continues to be a formidable challenge for the agency.
Maintaining these PFAS regulations stands out as an exception for the Trump administration. Typically, the administration has pursued a strategy to weaken numerous other environmental protections, such as those governing pollution from vehicles and factories, and safeguards for natural habitats.
Mr. Zeldin previously served as a House representative for Long Island, an area where PFAS chemicals, stemming from military, firefighting training sites, and two airports, have seeped into groundwater and contaminated local drinking water sources.
Just this year, 20 water districts across Long Island secured a $250 million settlement with 3M, a leading PFAS producer. This fund is earmarked for removing these chemicals from the water supply. Experts highlight that Long Island’s shallow aquifer system makes it especially susceptible to such contamination.
As a former representative for a Suffolk County district, Mr. Zeldin was a key figure in establishing a congressional task force dedicated to these chemicals. He was one of twenty-four Republicans who crossed party lines to support legislation aimed at, among other things, restricting industrial PFAS discharge. Though the bill passed the House in 2021, it never reached a Senate vote.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, have been industrial staples and components in countless consumer products for decades. Found in everything from nonstick cookware to food packaging and cosmetics, these compounds are renowned for their ability to withstand extreme temperatures, repel grease and water, and their near indestructibility in nature—qualities that earned them the moniker “forever chemicals.”
An increasing volume of research has established a link between exposure to certain PFAS and a range of health issues, including specific cancers, developmental and fertility problems, and other chronic disease risks.
These pervasive chemicals have extensively polluted our environment and the drinking water relied upon by millions of Americans.
Last year, the Biden administration classified two specific types of forever chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. This critical designation mandates that polluters bear the financial responsibility for decontaminating affected land, thereby transferring these significant costs away from taxpayers.
Predictably, industry trade groups have challenged this decision in court. They argue that the hazardous substance designation is excessively costly and will inevitably trigger extensive litigation, burdening businesses with substantial expenses and ultimately hindering the pace of chemical cleanup efforts.
The American Chemistry Council, representing the largest segment of the chemicals industry, issued a statement claiming that the EPA’s decision “may actually worsen the very problem it aims to solve.”
According to the council, the likely outcome will be “years of costly litigation, delaying remediation and diverting resources away from real environmental progress.”
Last month, it was reported that Steven Cook, a lawyer who previously represented one of the groups opposing the hazardous designation, and who has since joined the EPA, internally advocated for its reversal.
Mr. Cook has not responded to requests for comment regarding these allegations.
After being briefed on the matter this month, Mr. Zeldin ultimately chose to maintain the hazardous substance designation. This follows an earlier decision where he also upheld stringent drinking water standards for the same two types of forever chemicals, even as the agency relaxed standards for four others. These drinking water regulations also face strong opposition from the chemical industry and a prominent waterworks trade group.
Mr. Zeldin has actively urged Congress to enact legislation that would protect local municipalities, farmers, and other parties who did not manufacture or intentionally create these chemicals but may have inadvertently handled them. For instance, for decades, farmers nationwide have unknowingly applied fertilizers contaminated with forever chemicals, leading to widespread farmland pollution.
Environmental organizations have largely applauded the EPA’s recent decision. Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an Earthjustice lawyer who is also involved in defending the designation in court, stated, “It is not too much to ask the corporations that dump forever chemicals into the environment to pay for the cost of cleaning them up.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary, has voiced concerns regarding the health impacts of these chemicals, a sentiment echoed by the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Nevertheless, the EPA is proceeding with the disbandment of its scientific research division, resulting in the dismissal of hundreds of scientists, including chemists, biologists, and toxicologists, many of whom specialized in PFAS research.