LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general opposing the Trump Administration’s efforts to gut data reporting and recording-keeping requirements for PFAS forever chemicals.
In a comment letter (PDF) sent today to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 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 reporting requirements, manufacturers and importers of PFAS are asked to report whatever information they already know about the PFAS in their products during a one-time reporting requirement currently scheduled to begin in April 2026. This would include information such as the identities and amounts of PFAS chemicals manufactured, any known effects on human health or the environment, and how many workers are exposed to these chemicals.
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 their PFAS were toxic and contaminated human blood; state and federal regulators are still uncovering the chemicals in our everyday household items and the PFAS reporting rule is an important tool to do that.
“Reducing PFAS reporting requirements would severely hinder our ability to investigate and hold accountable the companies responsible for contaminating our environment and even our bodies with these toxic forever chemicals,” Nessel said. “I urge the EPA to uphold these reporting requirements to protect our communities, public health, and natural resources.”
If adopted, the Trump Administration proposal would shield from reporting over 98 percent of entities that are expected to have relevant, vital information about PFAS under six new carveouts that had been previously considered and rejected by EPA. The proposed new exemptions include: (1) a de minimis exemption for articles with PFAS concentrations below 0.1%; (2) an imported articles exemption; (3) an exemption for PFAS manufactured as byproducts; (4) an exemption for PFAS manufactured as impurities; (5) an exemption for PFAS manufactured as non-isolated intermediates; and (6) a research and development exemption.
Today, nearly all humans have PFAS in their blood. PFAS chemicals are toxic and can persist in the environment indefinitely. PFAS chemicals can travel through the environment, including into drinking water sources, and accumulate in human blood. Even modest releases of PFAS can cause widespread pollution and damage. EPA itself has concluded that many PFAS are known to cause severe adverse human health effects, including increased risk of kidney, breast, pancreatic, prostate, and testicular cancers, liver damage, decreased birth weight and birth defects, decreased vaccine response, high cholesterol, and infertility.
TSCA requires manufacturers and processors of chemical substances to maintain records and submit to EPA reports regarding the production, importation, use, and disposal of chemical substances, as well as reports of all existing information concerning the environmental and health effects of each chemical, and information regarding individuals who have been or will be exposed to those substances. Through these mechanisms, TSCA directs EPA to ensure that chemical substances entering or already in commerce are subject to oversight commensurate with the hazards they may pose.
In 2019, Congress established specialized reporting obligations for PFAS under TSCA. Attorney General Nessel supported the proposed rule ultimately adopted by EPA in 2023. Now, just two years later and months away from receiving this data, EPA is seeking to gut the rule and hide the use of PFAS from the public. In their 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.
Attorney General Nessel has reached six settlements with companies to address PFAS contamination in Michigan. Some of these settlements were reached with the assistance of Special Assistant Attorneys General (SAAGs) retained specifically to assist with complex PFAS litigation. There are currently three PFAS cases filed under the SAAG contract pending in federal court.
The attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Hawai’i, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin joined today’s comments.
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