In a significant move for environmental protection, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up ‘forever chemicals,’ substances known to pose severe health risks. This decision upholds a vital regulation, despite considerable opposition from the chemical industry.
The announcement, made late Wednesday, comes after a concerted effort by a former industry lawyer, who now holds a senior position within the EPA, to overturn the regulation. However, Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, chose to maintain the rule, a notable departure from the agency’s broader deregulatory policies. The EPA is now preparing to defend this rule in court against a barrage of lawsuits from industry groups.
In a public statement, Mr. Zeldin acknowledged the ongoing challenge of “holding polluters accountable” while simultaneously safeguarding the public from the widespread family of chemicals known as PFAS.
This steadfast commitment to PFAS regulations marks a rare exception for the Trump administration, which has largely pursued an agenda to roll back numerous other environmental safeguards. These include weakening limits on industrial pollution from vehicles and factories, and reducing protections for forests and wetlands.
Mr. Zeldin, a former House representative from Long Island, has a personal connection to the issue. In his former district, PFAS chemicals, extensively used in military and firefighting training facilities and two airports, have seeped into groundwater and severely contaminated local drinking water supplies.
Just last year, in 2025, over 20 water districts on Long Island secured a $250 million settlement with 3M, a leading manufacturer of PFAS, specifically for the removal of these chemicals from their water sources. Experts highlight that Long Island’s shallow aquifer makes it particularly susceptible to such pollution.
As a congressman, Mr. Zeldin was a founding member of a bipartisan congressional task force dedicated to addressing these chemicals. He joined more than two dozen fellow Republicans in voting for legislation aimed at limiting industrial discharge of PFAS, among other measures. Although the bill passed the House in 2021, it never received a vote in the Senate.
PFAS, an acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been integral to various industries and consumer products for decades, appearing in nonstick cookware, food packaging, and even cosmetics. Their remarkable resistance to extreme temperatures, ability to repel grease and water, and near indestructibility in nature have earned them the ominous moniker, “forever chemicals.”
An increasing volume of scientific research now links exposure to certain PFAS to serious health concerns, including various types of cancer, developmental and fertility problems, and other chronic disease risks.
These persistent chemicals have already extensively contaminated environments worldwide and infiltrated the drinking water of millions of Americans.
Last year, the Biden administration took a significant step by designating two specific types of forever chemicals as hazardous substances under the nation’s Superfund law. This designation mandates that polluters bear the responsibility for cleaning up contaminated land, thereby shifting the financial burden away from taxpayers.
However, industry trade groups have challenged this designation in court, arguing that the costs would be prohibitive and lead to extensive litigation, ultimately hindering the progress of chemical cleanup efforts.
The American Chemistry Council, representing the largest chemicals industry interests, issued a statement claiming that the EPA’s decision “may also worsen the very problem it aims to solve.”
They warned that the outcome “will likely be years of costly litigation, delaying remediation and diverting resources away from real environmental progress.”
As reported last month by The New York Times, Steven Cook, a lawyer who had previously represented one of the groups challenging the designation until January, joined the EPA and subsequently pushed internally to reverse the designation. Mr. Cook has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding these reports.
After being briefed on the matter earlier this month, Mr. Zeldin ultimately chose to keep the designation in place. This decision follows an earlier choice to maintain strict drinking water standards for the same two types of forever chemicals, even though the agency relaxed standards for four others. These drinking water standards also face strong opposition from the chemicals industry and a major waterworks trade group.
Mr. Zeldin has advocated for Congress to enact legislation that would protect local municipalities, farmers, and others who did not manufacture these chemicals but may have unknowingly come into contact with them. For example, farmers across the country have, for decades, unknowingly used fertilizer contaminated with forever chemicals, leading to widespread contamination of agricultural land.
Environmental advocacy groups have praised the EPA’s latest decision. Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, a lawyer at Earthjustice, an environmental organization 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 also voiced significant concerns about the health impacts of these chemicals, aligning with the broader “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Despite this positive step, the EPA continues its efforts to dismantle its scientific research arm, resulting in the termination of hundreds of chemists, biologists, toxicologists, and other scientists, including those specializing in PFAS research.