On April 28, 2025, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced ambitious plans to advance regulation of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The plans include the near-term appointment of an EPA PFAS czar and a laundry list of action items under nearly every major federal environmental statute. The ambitious agenda also includes a variety of other agency goals including addressing information gaps, improving PFAS testing methods, and coordinating EPA’s efforts with Congress, states, tribes, and other federal agencies.
While the tone of the recent announcement is President Trump’s (including Administrator Zeldin’s inclusion of this announcement as part of EPA’s Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative), much of the PFAS agenda appears to be a continuation of the Biden administration’s efforts to regulate PFAS under its October 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap and the first Trump administration’s PFAS strategy in the February 2019 PFAS Action Plan. EPA’s continued focus on PFAS regulation and enforcement appears to be a rare point of bipartisan agreement.
While EPA has sought (and extended) stays of the pending legal challenges to determine whether it will continue to defend Biden-era PFAS rulemakings under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in federal court, the announcement may indicate EPA is more likely to defend and implement these rules whether in whole or in part (even if it seeks a remand without vacatur for reconsideration of the science or to address procedural flaws in the rulemakings). Administrator Zeldin appears to share many of the same goals of the Biden administration in making “polluters pay” for PFAS contamination and in providing relief and clarity to “passive receivers” of PFAS that may unintentionally bear the costs of remediating PFAS contamination.
The EPA announcement outlines the following PFAS agenda:
The agenda is the first concrete indication of the Trump administration’s plans to address PFAS over the next four years. While the announcement does not go into detail about the underlying proposed actions intended to implement the agenda, what is apparent is that EPA fully intends to move forward with federal regulation of PFAS and many of the identified agenda items can be expected to pick up and build upon the work undertaken by the prior two administrations on PFAS.
The agenda and the Administrator’s accompanying comments echo many of the goals and objectives that were pillars of the prior administrations’ PFAS Action Plan and PFAS Strategic Roadmap, including that the agency intends to take a holistic and whole-of-agency approach to address PFAS that is rooted in a commitment to science and continued data collection to close data gaps, addressing PFAS at the source and proactively preventing PFAS from entering the environment, holding polluters accountable, advancing remediation of PFAS contamination, setting and providing clear and effective communications about PFAS standards and PFAS more generally, and collaboratively engaging on PFAS issues across the federal government and with state and local government, tribes, interests groups, stakeholders, and the public. This also includes—similar to the Biden administration’s approach—a clear intent to revisit certain PFAS regulatory decisions from the prior administration to address perceived shortcomings.
The agenda, however, does depart from the prior administration’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap in certain areas, including the Administrator’s intent to designate a single agency lead for PFAS compared to the multi-member Council on PFAS deployed by the Biden administration. The agenda also diverges from the Biden PFAS Strategic Roadmap by placing a larger emphasis on addressing PFAS in air, noting the need to collect more PFAS information in this environmental media and to develop additional measurement techniques, as well as noting an explicit need to work with Congress to implement a clear liability framework that adheres to the “polluter pays” principle and protects passive receivers.
EPA was explicit that the agenda is the first, not the last, of all decisions and actions EPA will be taking to address PFAS. What the agenda actually means for all ongoing and future PFAS regulations and enforcement efforts, however, remains to be seen. Moreover, filed actions by state attorneys general and those that may be contemplated are not subject to the administration’s agenda and may proceed in a different direction. Some key areas of focus include:
Toxic Substance Control Act
EPA’s announced objectives relating to TSCA further reflect the priorities of “strengthening the science” while also moving forward with PFAS regulation. The TSCA-related actions focus on assessing potential risks associated with PFAS (such as through focusing on exposure pathways, hazard characteristics, and the potential for releases to the environment), as opposed to simply assuming all PFAS are harmful by default. This is a logical approach, particularly given the broad definition of “PFAS” under TSCA, which includes thousands of different chemicals with differing structures, characteristics, and potential toxicity.
For example, EPA identifies an action to “smartly” collect information under the TSCA Section 8(a)(7) PFAS reporting rules that is both consistent with how Congress envisioned it and with TSCA more generally, while also not overburdening small businesses and article importers. The Section 8(a)(7) PFAS reporting rule stems from the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act where Congress imparted very specific requirements for how EPA should implement the TSCA 8(a)(7) rule; but EPA also applied some of its own interpretation, as the agency acknowledged in its responses to comments in the final rule (see, e.g., 88 Fed Reg 70534-36 (Oct. 11, 2023)). While the reporting period under Section 8(a)(7) begins on July 11, 2025, EPA may still be contemplating the issuance of new reporting guidance or other measures offering relief to article importers or small businesses (many of whom are reporting under TSCA for the first time).
Update: On May 13, 2025, EPA published an interim final rule extending the start date of the reporting period for all manufacturers by nine months; the data submission period will now begin on April 13, 2026, and end on October 13, 2026. Small manufacturers reporting exclusively as article importers have an additional six months, or until April 13, 2027, to complete their reporting. The interim final rule is effective immediately upon its May 13 publication in the Federal Register. EPA has stated that it is also considering reopening certain aspects of the rule for public comment.
Destruction and Disposal Guidance
One of the greatest challenges facing regulated entities performing cleanup of PFAS in the environment and removal of PFAS from drinking water systems, as well as entities seeking to dispose of aqueous film-forming foam and PFAS-containing waste materials, is the question of how to dispose of the resulting PFAS-containing media. The current options (including thermal destruction, landfills, and underground injection) are limited, and all contain a certain degree of risk. EPA’s guidance remains interim, as the science and technology associated with PFAS disposal and destruction is still evolving.
In particular, destruction of PFAS via thermal treatment (including incineration) is still subject to numerous uncertainties, including the potential risks associated with incomplete combustion. EPA’s decision to increase the frequency of updates to the PFAS Destruction and Disposal Guidance, coupled with an emphasis on improved measurement techniques for air emissions and technology for detection and destruction, should help the regulated community address these challenges. The information collection and development of new measurement techniques for air are also likely to inform potential regulation of PFAS under the Clean Air Act.
SDWA
EPA is committed to regulating PFAS in drinking water and appears intent on moving forward with at least some version of the SDWA National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six PFAS, which was finalized in April 2024. The agenda acknowledges, however, the need to address compliance and cost challenges relating to the drinking water rule. This may mean an easing of compliance deadlines (currently set for 2029) or revisiting and reworking portions of the rule including its controversial use of the novel Hazard Index approach to regulate four PFAS together. EPA may be closely scrutinizing the rule in light of the ongoing legal challenges.[1]
Update: On May 14, 2025, EPA was granted an additional 21 days to hold the litigation challenging the SDWA rule in abeyance. As justification for its third abeyance request, EPA indicated that it is continuing to finalize its plan on how to proceed with its defense of the rule and to allow the parties more time to evaluate the impact of EPA’s April 28 PFAS agenda on the rule in its current form.
The same day, EPA announced its intention to keep the NPDWR intact as it relates to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS); to delay compliance deadlines for these two PFAS by two years (2029 to 2031); and to rescind the rule and to reconsider its regulatory determinations for PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (GenX), and the use of a Hazard Index for these three PFAS plus PFBS. EPA also announced its plans to establish a federal exemption framework (likely focused, in part, on passive receivers), initiated enhanced outreach to water systems through its new PFAS OUT initiative, and reemphasized the agency’s commitment to WaterTA, its water technical assistance program. EPA indicated that it will continue to support DOJ in the legal defense of the NPDWR in its reworked form. EPA has until June 4, 2025, to inform the court of how it intends to proceed in the legal action challenging the rule.
CERCLA and RCRA
EPA appears likely to support designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. Although EPA had never previously used its authority under Section 102(a), most of the public and congressional concern relating to the new regulation appears to have focused on potential unintended consequences of the regulation, including the consequences of CERCLA liability for “passive receivers” of PFAS (including community water systems and municipal wastewater treatment plants) and other parties who may have unknowingly acquired significant PFAS liabilities (including landfills and farms with applied biosolids). Administrator Zeldin’s support for the “polluter pays” principle indicates that he does not have an intention to back away from regulation of PFAS under CERCLA, but he does seek a solution to the potential inequitable application of CERCLA. Notably, the Trump administration has left in place the prior administration’s PFAS Enforcement Discretion Settlement Policy Under CERCLA.
The new administration also may revive plans to regulate additional PFAS chemicals under CERCLA 102(a).[2] Finally, the second Trump administration also could revive plans to regulate PFAS as hazardous constituents under RCRA, which would allow EPA to address PFAS contamination under the RCRA Corrective Action Program.[3] That also would be an initial step in regulating PFAS as hazardous wastes, which would then automatically result in designation of those PFAS as hazardous substances.
Congressional Input and Action
The agenda states an intent to work with Congress to implement the Trump administration’s PFAS objectives. While Congress has held hearings and considered a number of recent bills to address regulation of PFAS, including offering relief to parties with liability under CERCLA,[4] whether enough bipartisan support can be gathered to implement legislation on issues such as passive receivers or liability carveouts that are out of the reach of EPA’s rulemaking and enforcement discretion authority remains to be seen.
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[1] American Water Works Association et al. v. EPA, Case No. 24-1188 (DC Cir 2024).
[2] EPA previously sought public input in April 2023 on regulating an additional seven PFAS chemicals under CERCLA (PFBS, PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, PFBA, PFHxA, and PFDA).
[3] EPA proposed regulating nine PFAS chemicals as RCRA hazardous constituents in February 2024.