On February 26, 2020, EPA issued a “Program Update” to its February 2019 PFAS Action Plan and an accompanying news release, “EPA Releases PFAS Action Plan: Program Update” to highlight what EPA calls its “aggressive and unprecedented efforts to regulate PFAS in the environment.”  According to the Program Update, per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “are a group of man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used by a variety of industries since 1940.”

PFAS Action Plan Accomplishments
The news release stated that since initiating its PFAS Action Plan, EPA has made “significant progress” in helping states and local communities address PFAS and in protecting public health. The EPA accomplishments mentioned in the news release include:

EPA’s February 20, 2020 issuance of a preliminary determination to regulate perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) in drinking water.

EPA’s February 20, 2020 supplemental proposal to ensure that new uses of certain persistent long-chain PFAS chemicals in surface coatings cannot be manufactured in or imported into the US without notification under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

EPA’s December 2019 publication of a new method to test for 11 additional PFAS in drinking water, bringing the total PFAS subject to an EPA approved testing method to 29.

EPA’s December 2019 “Interim Recommendations for Addressing Groundwater Contaminated with PFOA and PFOS,” which provides guidance to federal cleanup programs and could be used by states and tribes.

EPA’s November 2019 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, which seeks public input as to the PFAS that should be included on the Toxics Release Inventory toxic chemical list.

To see the news release, which has a link to the Program Update https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-releases-pfas-action-plan-program-update-0