A federal appellate court handed EPA a win on its strategy for testing select “forever chemicals,” a disappointment to North Carolina environmentalists who say the agency’s limited definition leaves major gaps.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision against six groups that petitioned EPA to require chemical company Chemours to conduct health and environmental tests on 54 different PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
EPA granted the groups’ petition under the premise that its would suffice, since the groups should get some data on 39 of the 54 substances. But the groups argued EPA in fact denied more of their requests than it granted, since the testing strategy does not require direct testing on 47 of the 54 PFAS.
EPA’s approach “is much more efficient than individually testing fifty-four PFAS that may provide identical information,” Judge G. Steven Agee wrote for the three-judge panel.
