EPA is seeking new data on facilities that manufacture or formulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a first step toward a future Clean Water Act (CWA) rule governing PFAS in facilities' wastewater effluent, following through on a plan announced shortly before the end of the Trump administration. In a newly released notice set for publication in the March 17 Federal Register, EPA sets out more than two dozen questions that it says could help it craft and target an effluent limitation guideline (ELG) for facilities that work with PFAS, either deliberately or as a byproduct of other processes. EPA in the notice signals that such a policy would take the form of an amendment to its existing effluent rule governing the "Organic Chemicals, Plastics and Synthetic Fibers" (OCPSF) sector. "Only a small subset of the facilities that are currently regulated under the OCPSF ELGs manufacture or formulate PFAS. Although the OCPSF ELGs may apply to PFAS manufacturers and formulators, the OCPSF ELGs do not establish effluent limitations or pretreatment standards for any PFAS compounds. Rather, the revision to the OCPSF ELGs would address PFAS discharges from PFAS manufacturers and formulators," the notice reads.
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