U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff claim Trump officials prevented them from alerting Congress about a loophole in environmental law that allowed companies to evade reporting toxic chemical releases.
Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin report for The Hill.
In short:
- A clause in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act allowed companies to avoid disclosing releases of PFAS, known as "forever chemicals," due to a lack of clarity over their classification.
- Despite attempts by EPA career staff to inform Congress of this oversight, political appointees reportedly blocked these efforts, leaving the loophole unaddressed.
- The misclassification meant facilities could release harmful levels of PFAS without reporting, as toxic levels occur in small quantities that fell under the reporting threshold.
Key quote:
“ ... the fix could be as simple as the bill just saying to add PFAS to the list of chemicals of special concern with a 100 pound reporting threshold.”
— Daniel Bushman, former TRI petitions coordinator and chemical list manager
Why this matters:
The Trump administration was accused of delaying action on setting drinking water standards for PFAS, despite previous commitments. Specifically, there were missed deadlines for moving forward with efforts to establish enforceable limits for PFAS in drinking water. This delay was compounded by a threat from the Trump administration to veto legislation aimed at addressing PFAS contamination.
In 2021, EHN writers Lauren Ellis and Maricel V. Maffini offered the Biden-Harris Administration seven recommendations to deal with PFAS in commerce using a whole-of-government approach, and finally start to turn off the PFAS tap.
