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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to gut data reporting and record keeping requirements for PFAS “forever chemicals.”
In a comment letter sent today to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, the attorneys general oppose rollbacks to PFAS reporting requirements mandated by Congress in 2019 under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and promulgated by EPA in October 2023. Under the law, manufacturers and importers of PFAS are required to report critical information about the PFAS in their products, including the type and amount of PFAS used, details about workers’ exposure to the chemicals, and how the chemicals are used and disposed. EPA implemented this mandate through a rule currently scheduled to begin requiring disclosures in 2026.
PFAS are a group of thousands of manmade chemicals that have been used in numerous consumer products since the 1940s, including clothing, non-stick cookware, food packaging, car seats and strollers, stain resistant furnishings, and floor waxes. But certain manufacturers spent decades hiding that PFAS chemicals were toxic to human health and the environment; state and federal regulators are still uncovering the extent of the chemicals’ distribution and their long-term effects. The PFAS reporting rule is an important tool to advance that understanding to inform future regulations.
If adopted, the Trump administration’s proposal would shield over 98 percent of entities that are expected to have relevant, vital information about PFAS from reporting under six new exemptions that had been previously considered and rejected by EPA.
A growing body of research shows that PFAS chemicals are toxic and can persist in the environment indefinitely. PFAS chemicals can also travel through the environment, including into drinking water sources, and some of them accumulate in fish and wildlife over time, magnifying their harm. Research shows that most Americans today have been exposed to PFAS and test positive for a detectable amount of PFAS in their blood. EPA itself has concluded that many PFAS are linked to severe human health effects, including increased risk of cancer and adverse impacts to fetal growth and development.
In 2019, Congress directed EPA to establish specific reporting obligations for PFAS chemicals under TSCA, recognizing the need for more information from industry about the extent of these chemicals’ use in order for states, the federal government, and the public to adequately understand and address the risks they pose. Attorney General Brown supported the proposed rule ultimately adopted by EPA in 2023. Now, just two years later and months away from the deadline to submit this data, EPA is seeking to gut the rule and shield much of the industry from the requirement to disclose their use of PFAS to the public. In the comment letter, the attorneys general urge EPA to preserve the integrity of the rule and to begin collection of PFAS data without further delay.
“If EPA adopts its Proposal as a final rule, vital information about the types of PFAS used in U.S. commerce and the risks these chemicals pose will remain hidden away, arbitrarily and capriciously and unlawfully undermining States’ efforts to protect human health and the environment, as well as EPA’s mandate under TSCA to evaluate and minimize chemical risks,” the attorneys general write.
Joining Attorney General Brown in sending today’s comments are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
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