EPA Proposes to Expand Public Access to Information on More Than 100 PFAS

On Wednesday, October 2, EPA proposed to add 16 individual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and 15 PFAS categories representing more than 100 individual PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The proposal would also designate them as chemicals of special concern so they must meet more robust reporting requirements, including reporting even for small concentrations. 

EPA is proposing to set a reporting threshold of 100 pounds for manufacture, processing and other uses. This threshold is consistent with reporting requirements for other PFAS on the TRI list added pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). If finalized as proposed, all of the PFAS in a given category would count towards the 100-pound reporting threshold for that category. This proposed change would improve reporting on PFAS by ensuring that facilities would not be able to avoid reporting on PFAS that are similar to one another if each PFAS does not meet the reporting threshold individually. For the same reason, EPA is also proposing to reclassify some PFAS that were previously added to the TRI individually as part of one of the 15 PFAS categories and to clarify how PFAS are automatically added to the TRI under the NDAA.

EPA will accept public comments on the proposed rule for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register via docket EPA-HQ-TRI-2023-0538 at the Regulations.gov page.