FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown recently filed comments opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rollback on limits to four PFAS “forever” chemicals in drinking water. The current standards, set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), were an important step towards increasing oversight of these chemicals in public water systems, and the proposed rollback would deprive the public of these important protections.
PFAS chemicals can be toxic to people and animals at very low concentrations, and they are frequently referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are highly resistant to natural degradation once released into the environment. They leach into groundwater and surface water from a variety of sources due to their widespread use in industrial and military applications, and they remain prevalent in many consumer products today. Research has shown that PFAS exposure is linked to harms to human health, including certain cancers and damage to reproductive systems and development.
In 2024, the EPA finalized a rule to regulate the testing and treatment of public drinking water systems for multiple specific PFAS chemicals and mixtures of those compounds under the SDWA. The EPA adopted this rule through a years-long process, including rigorous research and analysis and asking for public feedback.
Now, the EPA is proposing to eliminate the drinking water limits previously set for four PFAS compounds, in violation of federal law. The SDWA was designed with an anti-backsliding clause, intended to prevent the EPA from weakening drinking water standards once they are finalized, which is precisely what EPA’s proposal here would do. In addition to the SDWA, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that the proposal is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act, due to the EPA’s failure to provide a reasoned justification for its proposal or to consider alternatives to the wholesale rescission of drinking water standards for these chemicals.
Attorney General Brown is joined in filing these comments by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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