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  • Regulatory Update

Chemicals: US EPA Designates PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA Hazardous Substances

Effective July 8, 2024, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), including their salts and structural isomers, shall be designated as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Learn more.

Chemical lab testing.

June 14, 2024

Effective July 8, 2024, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), including their salts and structural isomers, shall be designated as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Designation eliminates barriers to cleanup and enables EPA to secure more timely actions. It streamlines response authority, provides a mechanism for parties to recover response costs from PRPs, and makes available CERCLA enforcement authority to compel PRPs to conduct or pay for cleanup. Designation also requires facilities to notify Federal, State, local, and Tribal authorities, as well as potentially injured parties, of significant releases. This will also require covered facilities to comply with CERCLA’s reporting requirements. Covered facilities may include 1) PFOA and/or PFOS manufacturers (including importers and importers of articles that contain these substances); (2) PFOA and/or PFOS processors; (3) manufacturers of products containing PFOA and/or PFOS; (4) downstream users of PFOA and PFOS; (5) downstream users of PFOA and/or PFOS products; (6) waste management facilities; and (7) wastewater treatment facilities.

In a final rule, the EPA concluded that the designation of each substance is warranted because both substances may present substantial danger to public health or welfare or the environment.

Available information about PFOA and PFOS indicate that human exposure to these substances is linked to a broad range of adverse health effects, which is also exacerbated by the fact that PFOA and PFOS’s characteristic as persistent in the environment cause long term exposure.

Official source

Designation of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS) as CERCLA Hazardous Substances

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