November 2023

On November 17, the EPA paused its prior approval of up to 100 shipments of wastes containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the Chemours Netherlands B.V. facility in Dordrecht to the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant in North Carolina. The North Carolina Chemours plant has been the source of previous pollution.

This news comes on the heels of a new analysis of EPA data showing that over the last five years at least 60 million pounds of PFAS waste has been disposed of in the US. According to the author of the new analysis, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), the 60m pounds estimate is likely to be a “dramatic” undercount because PFAS waste is mostly “unregulated” in the US and companies are typically not required to record its disposal. As part of its analysis, Peer identified over 10,300 PFAS waste shipments between June 2018 and June 2023.

As the EPA nears finalizing recently proposed environmental regulations related to per- and polyfluoroalky substances (“PFAS”), corporate America waits with bated breath.

Businesses involved in the manufacturing and sale of PFAS or PFAS-containing products are closely monitoring the legal landscape surrounding PFAS litigation. With the pending multibillion-dollar settlements between 3M, DuPont-related entities, and U.S. public water providers, the public is finally becoming more aware of PFAS. Public sentiment is now turning towards holding companies traditionally associated with making PFAS (such as 3M and DuPont) responsible for addressing the environmental and public health concerns related to PFAS.

There is increasing concern, however, toward keeping a clear line between the manufacturers of PFAS, who understood the damage their products would cause, and the downstream businesses who purchased and used PFAS in their products. Often, these downstream businesses were unaware that their products contained PFAS, or they failed to fully appreciate all the risks associated with using PFAS in their products, because the makers of the PFAS historically withheld or covered up that information. Thus, over the last 70 years, PFAS made its way into thousands of products throughout the stream of commerce, including cosmetics, carpets, food packaging, and clothing, with many of the companies involved in making those products not realizing that PFAS might be involved.