Proposal to name PFAS chemicals as ‘hazardous’ alarms industry
By 
Rebecca Trager2022-09-06T13:30:00
EPA’s plan to designate PFOA and PFOS to be hazardous substances could hand chemical companies a clean-up bill for billions of dollars
A move by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate two formerly widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as ‘hazardous chemicals’ means that companies deemed polluters will have to either pay to clean up the sites they contaminated, or reimburse the agency for the costs of remediation. The proposed rule has been strongly opposed by chemical firms that produce PFAS, as the clean-up costs could run to billions of dollars.