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Based on public health and environmental protection concerns and in response to petitions from the Governor of New Mexico, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Berkeley School of Law on behalf of five other organizations, which request EPA to take regulatory action on PFAS under RCRA, EPA is evaluating the existing toxicity and health effects data on four PFAS constituents to determine if they should be listed as RCRA Hazardous Constituents. If the existing data for the four PFAS constituents support listing any or all of these constituents as RCRA hazardous constituents, EPA will propose to list the constituents in a Federal Register notice for public comment. The four PFAS chemicals EPA will evaluate are: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA, and/or GenX).

Statement of Need: EPA has received three petitions recently requesting regulatory action on PFAS under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including a petition from the Governor of New Mexico on June 23, 2021. The New Mexico petition incorporated by reference the two other petitions received previously by EPA from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (et al.). This proposed rulemaking is in response to the three petitions and, if finalized, will list specific PFAS as RCRA hazardous constituents subject to corrective action requirements at hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs).

Summary of the Legal Basis: EPA has received three petitions recently requesting regulatory action on PFAS under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), including a petition from the Governor of New Mexico on June 23, 2021. The New Mexico petition incorporated by reference the two other petitions received previously by EPA from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (et al.). This proposed rulemaking is in response to the three petitions and, if finalized, will list specific PFAS as RCRA hazardous constituents subject to corrective action requirements at hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs).

Alternatives: We have reviewed and evaluated the toxicity and health effects information for specific PFAS to determine if they should be proposed to be listed as RCRA hazardous constituents on Appendix VIII, and there are no other alternatives.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The Agency will evaluate anticipated costs and benefits as part of the rule development process

Risks: The Agency will evaluate risk reductions and impacts as part of the rule development process. It is currently too early in the process to make such determinations.