On October 27, 2023, a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional official indicated that when PFAS are designated as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the agency expects to make decisions about reopening Superfund sites to evaluate PFAS on a “case-by-case” basis. The statement was made by the chief of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Office’s cleanup programs branch and came during a session at the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials’ annual conference in Arlington, Virginia. Attorneys and industry groups have raised concerns about these potential reopenings since the EPA proposed designations for PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances in 2022. The EPA is currently slated to finalize designations for PFOA and PFOS in 2024, which will enable EPA to require response actions related to PFAS under a wider range of circumstances under CERCLA than currently available.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) announced water quality values (WQVs) for two additional PFAS, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) at the end of October 2023. This addition brings the state’s existing list of PFAS WQVs up to a total of five (Table 1). Michigan’s WQVs are designed to be protective of human health for surface water beneficial uses, including drinking water and non-drinking water uses such as recreational activities and fish consumption. The WQVs support limits for discharging pollutants from water treatment plants, industrial and commercial facilities, and other regulated entities. WQVs for PFHxS and PFNA that are protective of aquatic life are under development.
The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center initiated a $27.6 million project at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska aimed at removing PFAS contamination in soil. Approximately 130,000 cubic yards of PFAS-impacted soil at the Base will be remediated via soil washing and PFAS capture using granular activated carbon and ion-exchange resin filters. This project, which is a collaborative effort between the Air Force Civil Engineer Center and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District, marks the first large-scale soil washing operation in North America for PFAS-impacted soil. Since soil washing commenced in August 2023, 1,500 cubic yards of soil have been remediated. Remediation is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025. This project is being closely monitored, as it will generate valuable data for future remediation projects.
In 2021, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defined PFAS as chemicals including at least one saturated CF2 or CF3 (i.e., without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it). A study published in Environmental Science & Technology reported that this definition encompasses over 6.6 million PFAS (excluding polymers and substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological materials). To reach this estimate, the authors developed a classification browser for PFAS in PubChem, which is a repository of information on over 116 million chemical substances. The study details the number of PFAS falling into various structural groups. The majority (5.7 million) of the identified PFAS have isolated CF3 groups and over 220,000 compounds contain more complicated molecular groups. OECD’s definition of PFAS is much broader than the definition used in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reporting and recordkeeping requirements for PFAS and includes numerous pharmaceuticals and pesticides with isolated CF3 groups that are not covered under the TSCA definition.
A report published by Générations Futures and Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe found that 37 active substances currently approved for use in pesticides in Europe are PFAS. This intentional use of PFAS comes from the addition of trifluoromethyl (-CF3) group(s) in the molecular structure of pesticides, which increases their stability. In addition, the report indicates that the use and sales of pesticides containing PFAS are increasing, with sales tripling from 2008 to 2021. Although the European Union plans to restrict the use of PFAS overall, pesticides with PFAS are currently excluded from this restriction because they are believed to be sufficiently controlled by the Pesticides Regulation.
On November 10, 2023, the Victorian EPA opened public consultation on proposed changes to management and classification methodologies of wastes and waste soils containing PFAS. Current management practices for PFAS containing wastes are limited and stringent, often requiring approval from EPA for every batch of waste/waste soil. Proposed changes will provide nuance to current PFAS regulation and create uniformity with the regulation of other contaminants typically encountered within waste/waste soils. Feedback from industry consultation will enable the evaluation of the potential effects of proposed changes to businesses and communities. Public consultation is open until December 21, 2023, and feedback can be submitted online.