Eighteen AGs Urged EPA to Improve Proposed Regulations on Articles Containing Long-Chain PFAS

APRIL 17, 2020

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in submitting comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish a significant new use rule (SNUR) for certain long-chain perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In their comments, the attorneys general noted that the supplemental proposal represents a “significant change” from the EPA’s original proposal in that it would only apply to imports of articles that contain certain long-chain PFAS in their surface coatings, rather than articles that contain such substances “anywhere within the article.” The attorneys general emphasized that the agency’s final rule “should be broadened to more effectively serve the goals and mandates of the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) to prevent exposures to harmful substances before they are introduced into the marketplace” — including by extending the rule’s requirements to the “entire chemical family of long-chain PFAS” and “to the processing of articles and not just to the importing of them.”