CERCLA PFAS Enforcement Listening Sessions
(Related information in Spanish)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) hosted two public listening sessions on March 14 and 23, 2023, to seek individual input on concerns about enforcement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. The deadline to submit written input closed on March 31, 2023. The input received will be reviewed and considered by EPA in drafting a CERCLA PFAS enforcement discretion policy.
The listening sessions focused on an enforcement policy related to responsible parties’ financial obligations under PFAS contamination response actions. The sessions did not focus on the actions needed to address contamination or EPA’s progress in the Agency’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap commitments.
If you have any questions about the listening sessions you can contact the Agency by email at CERCLAEnforcement-PFAS@epa.gov.
NEW!
View the March 14 and March 23, 2023 listening session recordings:
- CERCLA PFAS Enforcement Listening Sessions March 14 and 23, 2023 (YouTube playlist)
Download the Agency’s PowerPoint presentation prepared for the March 14 and March 23, 2023 sessions:
Background
As part of EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, the Agency continues to implement its commitments to take significant actions to address PFAS contamination. In the Roadmap, EPA has committed to holding polluters and other responsible parties accountable for their actions, ensuring that they assume responsibility for characterization and remediation efforts, and prevent future releases of PFAS. Many communities and ecosystems are exposed to PFAS in drinking water, surface water, groundwater, soils, sediment, air, and through product exposures. Exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse human health effects and has been identified as an urgent public health and environmental issue facing communities across the nation.
To help EPA develop a CERCLA PFAS enforcement discretion and settlement policy, EPA is seeking individual public input on CERCLA PFAS enforcement concerns through the two public listening sessions. The input received will be reviewed and considered by EPA in drafting the policy.
These listening sessions are separate from EPA’s perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) hazardous substance designation rulemaking process. The input provided through the listening sessions are not part of the rulemaking comment docket. The hazardous substance designation rulemaking comment period has closed.
EPA’s CERCLA PFAS enforcement discretion and settlement policy is aimed at addressing stakeholder concerns and reducing uncertainties by clarifying when EPA intends to use its CERCLA enforcement authorities or its CERCLA enforcement discretion. To the extent that PFAS cleanup enforcement efforts occur under CERCLA, EPA will develop a CERCLA PFAS enforcement discretion and settlement policy. The policy will take into account various factors, such as EPA’s intention to focus enforcement efforts on PFAS manufacturers and other industries whose actions result in the release of significant amounts of PFAS into the environment, and EPA’s intention to not focus on pursuing entities where factors do not support taking an enforcement action.
Visit the Agency’s PFAS website to learn more about PFAS and EPA’s commitments to address PFAS.