Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its “Report on the Use of PFAS in Cosmetic Products and Associated Risks”, evaluating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their use in cosmetic products. The Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA) – the most significant expansion of the FDA’s authority to regulate cosmetics in …
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently announced a comprehensive set of actions and resources aimed to address PFAS contamination in the state. The DEC’s “A Decade of Progress on PFAS: Summarizing DEC’s Continued Response” contains a progress report detailing New York’s leadership regarding PFAS policy over the last 10 years, along with …
In a recent development involving the landmark settlement between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and 3M, a New Jersey county has asked to be excluded from the settlement, stating it intends to pursue its own claims against the company for greater compensation. The state originally sued 3M and other companies in 2019, …
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Nov. 10 released a proposal aimed at improving the scope of its perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The initial regulation was finalized toward the end of 2023. However, both the Biden and Trump administrations pushed back the initial compliance deadlines …
Do you want to destroy PFAS? But why stop there? Continue on to convert them into high value fluorochemicals, and recover and reuse the phosphate salts. That’s what one new study claims it can do. The authors reacted PFAS with potassium phosphate salts under solvent-free mechanochemical conditions — a mineralization process enabling fluorine recovery as KF …
A high-stakes environmental trial is unfolding in New Jersey, where the state is taking on E.I. DuPont de Nemours and its related entities over widespread PFAS contamination at the former Chamber Works facility in Salem County. The outcome of this case — one of the most closely watched environmental proceedings in the country — could …
As regularly reported by the Environmental Law Monitor, state legislatures have increasingly been taking action independent of federal government regulation to address the significant challenge of eliminating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS from their jurisdictions. Shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its first-ever drinking water standards for six PFAS in …
Another major settlement was announced this week in New Jersey in consolidated cases filed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and other state entities. (You can review the Judicial Consent Order here as well as previously PFAS settlements reported by our firm here and here, including in New Jersey for remediation costs.) Settling plaintiffs, …
The Environmental Protection Agency announced April 28 a list of upcoming agency actions to address Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). This week’s announcement provides a broad outline of EPA’s plans that centers around three principles: (1) strengthening the scientific understanding of PFAS, (2) fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication, and (3) building partnerships. PFAS are …
Our blog has reported previously on California PFAS regulations, including its watershed laws with novel definitions of PFAS and the noted problems with the total organic fluorine testing method. (Prior CA blog posts on PFAS). We have also written on California’s PFAS ban in many children’s products and in disposable food packaging (here), California’s requirements on …