10/22/21
EPA Releases PFAS Strategic Roadmap

On Monday, October 18th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its PFAS Strategic Roadmap (see PFAS Strategic Roadmap: EPA's Commitments to Action 2021-2024 | US EPA) as commissioned by EPA Administrator Michael Regan.  In a nationwide stakeholders call that afternoon, Deb Szaro, EPA Region 1 Acting Administrator and co-chair of EPA’s Council on PFAS, kicked off the discussion about the Roadmap.  EPA’s strategy is a multimedia, multipronged attack on PFAS in the environment.  Szaro summarized the road map as having three major aims: research, restrict, and remediate PFAS.  EPA encouraged people to ask questions and provided short answers within the time allotted.  But many questions remain, of course.

On October 20th, Radhika Fox, EPA's assistant administrator for water and co-chair of the Council on PFAS with Szaro, testified before The US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works regarding EPA's PFAS roadmap.  The two hour hearing can be viewed on the Committee page: Evaluating the Federal Response to the Persistence and Impacts of PFAS Chemicals on our Environment - Hearings - U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.  Senators recognized that EPA needed to wait for the science, but they were frustrated, seeming to reprimand EPA on some of the time lines, especially regarding drinking water standards.  The Committee Chair, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), opened the hearing with a statement [Chairman Carper’s Opening Statement: Hearing on EPA’s PFAS Response - Press Releases - U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.] saying “While I am encouraged by EPA’s issuance of a new PFAS roadmap, the key to meaningful change lies in its timely, complete implementation. This will, no doubt, be a heavy lift, especially for EPA and also for many of us.”  The Senate was eager to assist with changes needed to help EPA do its job. 

Key takeaways from EPA’s Roadmap include action on biosolids, with the risk assessment scheduled to be completed in the winter of 2024.  That timeline is a disappointment to many NEBRA members as it continues to leave the region in limbo, a situation that has already resulted in a patchwork of state regulations impacting the biosolids market, making it harder and more expensive to manage [see Cost Impacts Study].

Other EPA Office of Water actions include leveraging National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NPDES) permits to get more information about PFAS in wastewater.  For states where EPA has primacy to issue those permits, like Massachusetts and New Hampshire, expect to see sampling and analysis requirements for PFAS.  EPA also plans to restrict PFAS discharges from industrial sources using the Effluent Limitations Guidelines program and establishing national technology-based regulatory limits for the nine industrial categories mentioned in the proposed PFAS Action Act of 2021 and likely others.  Finally, the Office of Water plans to publish final recommended ambient water quality criteria for PFAS for aquatic life (winter 2022) and human health (fall 2024).

In other program areas, EPA plans to designate a couple of PFAS as hazardous substances under the “Superfund” law.  They also plan a national testing strategy, perhaps treating PFAS compounds as a class. According to EPA during the conference call on October 18th, the goal is to have methods approved for 40 PFAS in 8 different matrices as soon as possible. The Roadmap states that the “draft total adsorbable fluorine method for wastewater for potential laboratory validation” will be completed this fall. EPA had already announced back in early September [EPA Announces First Validated Laboratory Method to Test for PFAS in Wastewater, Surface Water, Groundwater, Soils | US EPA] that it had validated Method 1633 for use in various media including wastewater and biosolids.  Additional information from EPA on testing methods can be found here: PFAS Analytical Methods Development and Sampling Research | US EPA

There will be lots of advanced notices of proposed rulemaking in the coming months, which NEBRAMail will be tracking.  Other actions include more research, better use of regulatory and voluntary compliance tools, and an annual public report on progress.   EPA will be hosting additional stakeholder meetings on the Roadmap in the next few weeks including October 26 and November 2. These meetings are open to the public but require an RSVP. A copy of the roadmap can be accessed here. 

Meanwhile, in Maine, the legislature not only made into law the same very low drinking water standards as adopted in Massachusetts, but also allocated $30 million that, in part, will fund more than a dozen new staff at Maine DEP who will prioritize and sample ~500 sites where biosolids land application occurred over the past 40 years.  And Massachusetts DEP has a preliminary compilation of data on PFAS in Massachusetts biosolids products based on sampling and testing quarterly over the past year.  Contact NEBRA for additional details.