Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House of Representatives on January 14 would direct EPA to designate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, which would give the agency the authority to require cleanup of areas polluted with the chemical.
Sponsored by a trio of Michigan lawmakers (Democratic Reps. Debbie Dingell and Dan Kildee, and Republican Fred Upton), the PFAS Action Act (H.R. 535) is somewhat of a successor to separate legislation the three introduced last fall. But while that bill only would have required EPA to make a determination of whether to designate PFAS as a hazardous substance, the new measure would direct the agency to take that step within one year.
In a statement, Rep. Kildee said the new bill “will list all PFAS as the hazardous chemicals we know they are and give the EPA the tools it needs to clean up contaminated sites.”
PFAS is a broad class of nonstick chemicals that are increasingly discovered throughout the environment, especially in communities adjacent to defense facilities where the substance was a component of firefighting foam. EPA is in the process of developing a PFAS action plan that could include designating the substances as hazardous under superfund, but the ongoing government shutdown has slowed work on the plan.