In an Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City article titled "Digging Deeper - PFAS in Agriculture: What Agri-Business Sector Needs to Know about the Latest Emerging Contaminants," Lathrop GPM attorneys Ally Cunningham, Jessie Rosell, Matt Walker, and Shanna McCormack discuss the EPA's and USDA's proposed classifications and guidelines for PFAS. These changes can impact a variety of agricultural operations, from the management and application of biosolids and pesticides to federal aid payments received by dairy farmers for PFAS contamination, and updated drinking ...

On May 18, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it has added five per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) compounds to its Regional Removal Management Levels (RMLs) and Regional Screening Levels (RSLs), a set of non-enforceable standards used to evaluate whether further action at a site is necessary. The RSLs and RMLs now include a total of six PFAS chemicals. The additions come as a part of EPA’s PFAS Roadmap launched in 2020. The PFAS Roadmap, developed by the EPA Council on PFAS, focuses around three central directives: (1) Research; (2 ...

EPA’s recent rulemaking to promulgate the new ASTM E1527-21 standard received substantive adverse public comments that will likely require EPA to go through a full notice and comment rulemaking instead. Because EPA received adverse comments, it withdrew the proposed direct-to-final rule before the effective date, and will likely have to go through conventional rulemaking to promulgate the new ASTM E1527-21 standard.

Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) are an integral part of environmental due diligence for real estate transactions because sellers, lenders, and ...

Earlier this month, the Wisconsin State Natural Resources Board (NRB) moved to regulate the two most widely studied PFAS compounds, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), in both drinking water and surface water within the state. Unlike some other states that have moved to adopt aggressive standards for groundwater such as Michigan, however, the Board declined to set limits on PFAS in groundwater. The Wisconsin Board’s decisions come in the context of broader federal PFAS regulation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ...

On November 16, EPA asked its Science Advisory Board (SAB) to review draft scientific documents re-evaluating EPA’s 2016 analysis of potential health effects of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). The review could lead to EPA lowering its existing drinking water health advisory levels and inform development of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for the two compounds.

EPA sent four draft documents with recent scientific data and analyses to its SAB that indicate adverse health effects may occur at lower levels of exposure to PFOA ...

Three northeastern states are among those that have recently taken legislative action to address PFAS in consumer products and the environment. Maryland recently banned 13 different PFAS and their salts from being sold in cosmetic products within the state. Vermont recently passed an even stricter law prohibiting the sale of several categories of commercial products containing PFAS. Finally, Maine has established a limit of 20 parts per trillion for six types of PFAS found in drinking water, well below EPA’s 70 parts per trillion advisory level for PFOS and PFOA, while also ...

February 22 brought another significant development in the world of PFAS, as EPA finalized its decision to regulate levels of PFOS and PFOA in drinking water under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). To date, EPA has only issued non-enforceable health advisory guidelines, but this new determination means EPA will initiate the scientific review process to propose Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) for PFOA and PFOS within two years. For more details, read our legal alert here.

For the first time ever, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently posted information about PFAS being present in personal care products such as lotions, nail polish, shaving cream, foundation and mascara. There is even some concern about PFAS contained in dental floss. While this is really not a new phenomenon – as a 2018 study conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that a number of beauty and skin care products contain Teflon – what is new is that the FDA is now taking steps to address it. Click here to read our recent client alert that discusses the research and ...