Performance Chemicals Weekly Roundup – 4.22.21

Ethylene Oxide (EtO):

• According to Law 360, Bloomberg Law, and E&E News, a new report from the EPA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) asserted that the EPA “delayed informing” communities in Illinois about alleged health risks associated with EtO exposure in 2018. The report claims that senior Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) officials delivered instructions that “restricted Region 5’s ability to fulfill EPA’s mission” and “hindered Region 5’s ability to effectively address ethylene oxide emissions in a timely manner.”

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS):

• EPA Administrator Michael Regan pledged that the agency would move in “an expedited fashion” to set a national drinking water standard for certain PFAS chemicals while speaking before Congress on a hearing discussing President Biden’s initial EPA budget proposal. Reporting from The Hill and E&E News noted that Regan called the Biden administration’s request for $75 million to improve research on PFAS to be “just a drop in the bucket,” as future remediation efforts could increase future costs.
  This past week, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) reintroduced a bill titled the PFAS Registry Act, which would create a national database outlining alleged PFAS contamination at military sites, according to press releases by both Senators. The bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to maintain a registry of installations likely impacted by PFAS contamination, to update service members and veterans on recent scientific developments on the impacts of PFAS exposure, and to provide information on the availability of potential treatment options. Reporting by E&E News referenced that Sens. Shaheen and Rounds had first introduced the PFAS Registry Act in 2019.
• According to Inside EPA, Senate Environment and Public Works panel ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan requesting an update on anticipated completion dates for items in the agency’s PFAS Action Plan. Sen. Capito, who asked Regan for a response to the letter by May 3, stressed that PFAS research and development activities may be behind schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic and urged the EPA to “focus on these incomplete and scientifically-driven deliverables to ensure that science – not politics – is driving EPA’s regulatory decisions.”
• According to Bloomberg Law, the California Assembly passed AB 1200 today, which would ban PFAS in food packaging and require health warnings on cookware containing PFAS compounds. The bill now heads to the state’s Senate and, if passed, to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), who last year signed a bill banning certain PFAS in cosmetics.