EPA Proposes Adding Over 100 PFAS to TRI List

Significantly more PFAS substances would be subject to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting under a proposed rule published by EPA on October 8, 2024.  The proposed rule would add 16 individual PFAS and 15 PFAS categories to the TRI list, which currently contains 196 PFAS.

The proposed additions would be made due to their potential human health effects, environmental effects, or both.  According to EPA, the 15 proposed category additions encompass over 100 individual PFAS.

The added PFAS would be subject to a reporting threshold of 100 pounds.  The manufacture, processing, and otherwise use of substances within a PFAS category would cumulatively count towards that category’s 100-pound threshold.

EPA is also proposing to add the proposed PFAS to the list of chemicals of special concern, which would make them ineligible for the de minimis exemption.  Under the de minimis exemption, facilities can disregard small concentrations of TRI chemicals in mixtures and trade name products when making threshold determinations.

EPA previously designated existing PFAS on the TRI list as chemicals of special concern in October 2023.  In that rulemaking, EPA argued that the move would “result in a more complete picture of the releases and waste management quantities for PFAS.”

The FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) instructed EPA to add certain PFAS to the TRI list with a 100-pound reporting threshold.  “Congress’ use of this low reporting threshold demonstrates a concern for even relatively small quantities of these PFAS,” EPA said.

EPA was required to evaluate some of the proposed PFAS additions for possible inclusion by section 7321 of the NDAA.  However, the NDAA did not specify what the threshold should be for those additions.  In the proposed rule, EPA defended its proposed 100-pound threshold, saying that it would “maintain consistency for all chemicals added to TRI pursuant to the NDAA.”

The NDAA also instructs EPA to add PFAS automatically when certain conditions are met.  In the proposed rule, EPA clarified its interpretation of those conditions, which include when EPA “finalizes a toxicity value” for a PFAS.

Finally, EPA is proposing that it add related PFAS (like an acid and its associated salts) under the NDAA as a category going forward. The proposed rule would also consolidate certain existing individual PFAS on the list into categories.

Comments on the proposed rule are due November 7, 2024.

EPA Finalizes TRI PFAS Reporting Rule

On October 31, EPA published its final rule, Changes to Reporting Requirements for PFAS and to Supplier Notifications for Chemicals of Special Concern which modifies the requirements for TRI reporting. These new requirements take effect November 30, 2023, and will apply for the reporting year beginning January 1, 2024; first reports with these requirements will be due July 1, 2025. The rule puts forth two significant changes to the current reporting requirements.

The first change to the reporting requirements is that all PFAS presently subject to TRI reporting will be added to the TRI list of Chemicals of Special Concern (“COSC List”). In addition, in the future, any PFAS added to the TRI list of toxic chemicals will automatically be added to the COSC list without the Agency having to go through a separate rulemaking process as was previously required. Furthermore, all PFAS on the COSC list will be held to the same reporting standard as all other chemicals on the COSC list. This means that all PFAS will be excluded from the de minimis exemption, which had excused quantities of PFAS present in mixtures at less than 1 percent (0.1 for PFOA) from contributing to reporting thresholds. In addition, facilities will no longer be able to report these substances on Form A (the less extensive of the reporting forms) and will not be able to report quantities using ranges. Under the requirements previously in place, Form A could be used for PFAS reporting if each of the following criteria has been met:

  • The reportable chemical substance is not a PBT.
  • The reportable chemical substance was not manufactured, processed, or otherwise used in excess of 1,000,000 lbs.
  • If the total reportable amount of the chemical substance released did not exceed 500 lbs.

Under the new requirements, no one will be able to report PFAS manufacture, processing, use, and releases on Form A. However, Form A can still be used to meet the reporting requirements for PFAS during the 2023 reporting year; beginning in 2024, PFAS will need to be reported using the more extensive Form R.

The second change to the TRI reporting requirements eliminates the de minimis exemption under the supplier notification requirements for all COSC, including PFAS. This change also goes into effect for the 2024 reporting year. The de minimis exemption for supplier notification meant that raw material suppliers were not required to notify their customers of the presence of PFAS in mixtures below specific concentrations (1 percent for non-carcinogens and 0.1 percent for carcinogens or, in the present case, 1 percent for PFAS and 0.1 percent for PFOA). Eliminating the de minimis exemption for reporting will add notification requirements on suppliers of products containing COSC and include such information on their SDSs. Consequentially, facilities will have more information about their processing, use, and/or release of PFAS, and downstream manufacturers will likely have more information to report to EPA for TRI.

Environmental Groups Drop Lawsuit Following EPA Finalization of TRI PFAS Reporting Rule

Environmental and health advocate groups, including the National PFAS Contamination Coalition and Union of Concerned Scientists, have dropped their lawsuit against EPA, challenging two of the Agency’s rules related to PFAS reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. The 2022 lawsuit alleged that the Agency’s rules Implementing Statutory Addition of Certain Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; Toxic Chemical Release Reporting and Implementing Statutory Addition of Certain Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) to the Toxics Release Inventory Beginning with Reporting Year 2021, weakened PFAS reporting requirements imposed by the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by allowing di minimus and alternative threshold exemptions.

The Plaintiffs agree that the issues raised in their 2022 complaint have been sufficiently addressed in EPA’s October 2023 final rule Changes to Reporting Requirements for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and to Supplier Notifications for Chemicals of Special Concern; Community Right-to-Know Toxic Chemical Release Reporting which modified the TRI reporting requirements. The amended rule eliminates the di minimus reporting exemption with the purpose of increasing the amount of data on PFAS chemicals released to the environment required to be submitted to the Agency beginning in 2025. More detailed information on the new TRI PFAS reporting requirements can be found here. In both the proposed and final rule, EPA stressed that the two prior rules, the ones at issue in the litigation, resulted in minimal reporting on PFAS releases, and therefore, eliminating exemptions was necessary to achieve the goals of the NDAA.