On Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal designed to improve the scope of its perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The changes, EPA said, are aimed at making the rules more implementable and to reduce unnecessary or potentially duplicative reporting requirements for businesses, which the agency said can be done while obtaining the necessary use and safety information on PFAS.
In October 2023, the EPA under President Joe Biden’s administration finalized a one-time PFAS reporting and recordkeeping regulation under TSCA section 8(a)(7) that requires manufacturers (including importers) of PFAS in any year between 2011-2022 to report data to EPA related to exposure and any existing environmental and health effects.
In the Nov. 10 press release announcing the new proposed changes, the agency said that rule “exemplifies regulatory overreach by imposing a nearly billion-dollar compliance burden on industry without establishing any clear framework for utilizing the collected data or demonstrating how it advances environmental protection goals.” It added that the rule’s “lack of practical implementation standards, evidenced by significant IT system failures and administrative delays, represents poor regulatory design that unnecessarily burdens small businesses and importers while failing to achieve meaningful environmental outcomes,” EPA said.
The exemptions and modifications that EPA is proposing would maintain important reporting requirements on PFAS while exempting reporting on activities that manufacturers are least likely to know or reasonably determine. The proposed exemptions are:
- PFAS manufactured (including imported) in mixtures or products at concentrations 0.1% or lower;
- Imported articles;
- Certain byproducts;
- Impurities;
- Research and development chemicals; and
- Non-isolated intermediates.
The agency is also proposing technical corrections to clarify what must be reported in certain data fields and to adjust the data submission period.
EPA said this week’s proposed changes deliver on Administrator Lee Zeldin’s April 28 commitment to “implement [TSCA] section 8(a)7 to smartly collect necessary information, as Congress envisioned and consistent with TSCA, without overburdening small businesses and article importers.”
“This Biden-era rule would have imposed crushing regulatory burdens and nearly $1 billion in implementation costs on American businesses,” said Zeldin. “Today’s proposal is grounded in commonsense and the law, allowing us to collect the information we need to help combat PFAS contamination without placing ridiculous requirements on manufacturers, especially the small businesses that drive our country’s economy.”
Upon publication of the Federal Register notice, EPA will accept comments on the proposed changes for 45 days in docket #EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0549 on www.regulations.gov. View a prepublication version of this proposal here.
Source: U.S. EPA
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