By Jeffrey Karp, Senior Counsel, and Edward Mahaffey, Legal Research and Writing Attorney

While the federal government still has not comprehensively addressed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination, important PFAS-related developments have occurred on three fronts recently. As litigation against PFAS manufacturers continues, its targets and legal theories have broadened. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts filed a new case in May 2022. Also, in March 2022, a federal district court judge ruled in a putative class action lawsuit that a chemical supplier had a duty to third parties under Georgia law. Some state governments have adopted new PFAS regulations, increasingly targeting contamination of biosolids and wastewater. And, although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet issued a binding regulation limiting PFAS in drinking water, its new drinking water health advisories indicate that the agency considers two types of PFAS to be a health risk at much lower concentrations than it previously believed.

By Jeffrey Karp, Senior Counsel, and Edward Mahaffey, Legal Research and Writing Attorney

On October 18, 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its PFAS Strategic Roadmap (Roadmap or Plan), the agency's new approach to comprehensively addressing the threat to public health and the environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In issuing the Roadmap, EPA has segued from the prior administration's PFAS Action Plan to implementing the agency's new PFAS playbook developed since the Biden administration came into office. While the Roadmap describes a potentially sweeping array of new studies, test protocols, regulations, and other proactive measures, many of the most critical ones are not expected to be completed or come to fruition before mid-2022, continuing the pattern of the federal government's slower pace than a number of states in addressing PFAS risks.