As the contamination’s toxic threat to the environment and human health becomes clearer, three U.S. states have formally asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin regulating air emissions of PFAS, the “forever chemicals.”
Federal regulators have so far focused on water pollution, but state environmental officials in North Carolina, New Mexico and New Jersey filed petitions last week asking the EPA to classify the four PFAS compounds as hazardous air pollutants and begin regulating them under the Clean Air Act.
The petition comes after a Guardian investigation earlier this year found that a Chemours PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina, may be emitting much higher levels of the chemicals into the air than regulators and the company have claimed. The air pollution is believed to be the source of PFAS contamination of soil, water and food supplies across hundreds of square miles in the region.
But a lack of federal regulations makes it difficult for states to curb air pollution, which they say is a “significant concern in our states and across the United States,” the states said in their petition to EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
“Adding these permanent chemicals to the list of regulated contaminants closes a gap in regulatory authority and allows us to address a critical part of the PFAS lifecycle: air emissions,” Elizabeth Beiser, director of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, added in a press release.
PFAS are a group of approximately 15,000 chemical compounds that are most often used to make products waterproof, stain-resistant, and oil-resistant. PFAS have been linked to cancer, birth defects, weakened immune systems, high cholesterol, kidney disease, and a variety of other serious health problems. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally in the environment.
Air releases are a concern because the chemicals are widespread throughout the region: PFAS don’t naturally break down in the environment, so when it rains, the chemicals can contaminate soil, crops, and drinking water sources.
The petition states that North Carolina regulators established a causal link between “significant air releases of PFAS from the Chemours plant” and widespread contamination of private drinking water wells in a 27-square-mile area around the plant, where testing has detected PFAS specific to Chemours, while another state has found similar problems over a 67-square-mile area.
GenX, a PFAS produced at the Chemours plant, has been found in high concentrations in stormwater 90 miles away in Wilmington, North Carolina, suggesting air pollution as well, said Emily Donovan, co-founder of the nonprofit Clean Cape Fear, a residents’ group that advocates for stricter regulations around the Chemours plant.
While the EPA enacted tough new drinking water limits for some PFAS compounds this year, there is no law requiring Chemours to address its air pollution. Instead, a court ordered Chemours in 2019 to eliminate most of its air emissions, but there is no obligation for other polluters.
Donovan said the petition is “long overdue and a good first step.”
“At this point, the EPA should designate the entire class of PFAS as a hazardous air pollutant,” she added.
The petition asks the EPA to regulate the four most common PFAS compounds: PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, and GenX. There are thousands of these chemicals, and technology deployed to remove these four would likely remove many other PFASs as well.
Bob Sussman, the attorney who filed the lawsuit against Chemours, said the EPA has 18 months to respond to the petition and that the dangerous toxic effects of the four chemicals listed in the petition are well documented.
“Given the known harmful effects and extensive toxicity data of PFOA, PFOS, GenX and other PFAS, such a listing should not be difficult to justify,” he added.