The Trump administration says it will defend a Biden era-rule that is expected to keep polluters on the hook to clean up toxic “forever chemicals.”
The rule in question designated two types of these chemicals as “hazardous substances,” giving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) more authority to clean up their contamination and require polluters to pay for it.
In a court filing on Wednesday, lawyers for the Justice Department said the EPA “has reviewed the underlying rule and has decided to keep the Rule in place.”
In a statement, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the Trump administration was seeking a balance between holding polluters accountable and not punishing the wrong companies.
In particular, he called on Congress to legislate exemptions for “passive receivers” that did not make the chemicals but receive them as feedstocks or waste.
“When it comes to PFOA and PFOS contamination, holding polluters accountable while providing certainty for passive receivers that did not manufacture or generate those chemicals continues to be an ongoing challenge,” Zeldin said in a written statement, referring to the two “forever chemicals” to which the rule pertains.
“EPA intends to do what we can based on our existing authority, but we will need new statutory language from Congress to fully address our concerns with passive receiver liability,” he added. “The Trump Administration is fully committed to ensuring all Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water.”
The move to defend the Biden-era regulation was surprising to some given other administration policies that loosen rules for toxic chemicals in favor of industry. The New York Times recently reported that a senior official had recommended scrapping the Biden-era rule.
“Forever chemicals,” however, have become a major and pervasive problem across the U.S. — contaminating a large number of waterways and found to be in the bloodstream of virtually every American.
They’ve also come under particular scrutiny from the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, with which the Trump administration is aligned. And Long Island, N.Y., which EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin previously represented in Congress, has had its share of related issues.
“Forever chemicals” are the nickname of a family of thousands of compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
These chemicals can have nonstick, fire-resistant and waterproof properties that have made them useful in numerous military, technological and consumer applications. Some of the most notable include nonstick pans and firefighting foam.
Their industrial, military and other uses have led to the contamination of sites around the country. The EPA rule in question deals with just two of the substances, known as PFOA and PFOS.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to increased risks of prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers as well as immune system issues and decreased fertility.
When it first published the rule in question, which the Trump administration has decided to uphold, the Biden administration said it would enable “earlier, broader, and more effective cleanups of contaminated sites” because it would give EPA access to a broader suite of tools to address the problem and allow for additional chemicals at those sites to also be addressed.
Ultimately, it said that the reduced exposure to PFOA and PFOS would result in fewer cases of the illnesses associated with them, including cancers such as kidney cancer and thyroid disorders.
The written statement from the Trump EPA, meanwhile, also said that the agency plans to put together a rule to provide a uniform way to designate more substances as hazardous — allowing for their cleanup — in the future.
It said that this rule will “consider the costs of proposed designations” on industry and criticized the Biden administration, saying it had “failed to provide this certainty and instead took steps to potentially designate other PFAS chemistries…without first establishing the rules of the road.”
The decision to defend the rule won support for a Trump administration action from environmental advocates.
“These hazardous substance designations promote the remediation of contaminated sites across the country, and we look forward to defending them alongside EPA,” said Earthjustice attorney Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz in a written statement.
However, Kalmuss-Katz criticized a previously announced plan by the administration to delay and narrow drinking water regulations for PFAS.
“But even with these designations, it will take decades to clean up known PFAS contamination, and EPA’s efforts to delay and roll back PFAS drinking water standards will harm millions of people before that remediation can occur,” he said.
Updated at 6:39 p.m. EDT
Source: The Hill
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