McEachin, Kildee, Delgado Lead Call for EPA to Close PFAS Reporting Loophole

Reps. A. Donald McEachin, D-Va., Dan Kildee, D-Mich., and Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., led a bipartisan group of 38 lawmakers this week in penning a letter urging the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention to close a reporting loophole allowing hundreds of dangerous chemicals, known as PFAS, to be manufactured and used in the United States. 

According to the letter, congressional action was previously taken through the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act to list certain PFAS on the Toxics Release Inventory list. The TRI provides federal agencies data on the production and use of toxic chemicals.

But there was a reporting loophole. The Environmental Protection Agency codified the TRI-listed PFAS into law in a way that allows polluters to use exemptions to underreport or avoid reporting PFAS releases entirely. 

For example, the letter states that PFAS are often used in mixtures, but a “de minimis” exemption allows facilities to avoid reporting concentration of each PFAS if they are less than 1%, even if the total combination of PFAS exceeds the 100-pound reporting threshold. 

A 2021 EPA report reveals that only 38 facilities reported having manufactured, processed or otherwise used TRI-listed PFAS in 2020. 

This month the EPA released an analysis of the 2020 TRI that found exceptionally low reporting by facilities and military agencies, including the Department of Defense.

The EPA indicated that the proposed rule to close the reporting exemptions would be published in March 2022, and that a final rule would be published in June 2023 to give the industry until 2024 to report PFAS releases in full. 

“Based on this timeline, we will have flawed data until at least 2025,” the letter states.

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