Page 6 - Yucaipa Valley Water District - Board Workshop

INSIGHT: PFAS Liability Is Coming to California about:reader?url=https://www.bna.com/insight-pfas-liability-n57982093402/

While most regulatory activity is occurring at the state level, the

federal government has tentatively begun to enter the fold. In May

2016, the EPA set “Health Advisory” levels for two common kinds of

PFAS— perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane

sulfonate (PFOS)—at 70 parts per trillion combined in drinking

water. But these Health Advisory levels are not enforceable on their

own, so the EPA has been hard-pressed to take further action,

especially when reports surfaced that the EPA sought to block

publication of a different federal health study that allegedly showed

that PFOA and PFOS endanger human health at levels lower than

the EPA had previously determined.

In response, the EPA convened a National Leadership Summit in

May 2018 to “take action” on PFAS. At the summit, the EPA

announced it would begin taking steps to designate PFOA and

PFOS as “hazardous substances” under federal law and evaluate

the need for a “maximum contaminant level” for PFOA and PFOS in

drinking water. The EPA also is visiting communities impacted by

PFAS and conducting other research. And on Sept. 6, the U.S.

House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee

on Environment heard testimony on PFAS contamination and

remediation, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland

Security & Governmental Affairs followed suit nearly three weeks

later.

But state regulators and litigants are not waiting for the federal

government to take concrete action. In November 2017, for

example, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

recommended maximum contaminant levels for PFOA at 14 parts

per trillion and for PFOS at 13 parts per trillion, roughly five times

more stringent than the EPA Health Advisory. This past month, that

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