By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
(CNN) — Key Biden-era regulations designed to protect the nation’s drinking water from the most dangerous cancer-causing per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, were removed by the Trump administration Monday.
Manufactured since the 1940s to make products nonstick, stain-resistant and water-repellent, PFAS chemicals have been linked to cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, decreased fertility, liver damage, hormone disruption and damage to the immune system, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Because PFAS can last for many decades in the environment, they are often referred to as “forever” chemicals.
Claiming the Biden administration failed to follow the law by cutting regulatory corners, the EPA will “rescind and restart” regulations on four PFAS, US Environmental Protection Agency EPA Administration Lee Zeldin said in a press briefing.
Those chemicals include perfluorononanoate (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), the last one often referred to as a GenX chemical. All are considered dangerous to public health.
In addition, the administration eliminated restrictions on mixtures of PFNA, PFHxS, GenX and a fourth chemical, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS). Mixtures of PFAS are even more dangerous to health, experts say.
“Because the previous administration didn’t follow the procedural and substantive step-by-step requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act when it regulated them, that rule has been extremely vulnerable legally, and already subject to ongoing litigation, Zeldin said.
The American Chemistry Council and National Association of Manufacturers filed a joint lawsuit against the EPA over the regulations, claiming the limits on PFAS were “arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.” That lawsuit is currently before the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
The American Water Works Association and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies also sued the EPA, arguing that compliance costs should fall on polluters rather than municipal water systems and their ratepayers.
“The Trump EPA is caving to chemical industry lobbyists and water utility pressure – and in doing so it is condemning millions of Americans to drink contaminated water for years to come,” said Ken Cook, president and cofounder of the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a nonprofit health and environmental advocacy group.
“The price of this decision will be paid by ordinary people, in the form of more PFAS-related diseases,” Cook said in a statement.
Most studied PFAS: PFOA and PFOS
The Biden-era restriction on two of the most egregious contaminants — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) — will remain, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during the briefing.
However, drinking water systems can now petition for an additional two years to comply, moving the deadline for those who request an extension from 2029 to 2031.
“The Biden administration passed a rule very hastily in which they ignored a Clean Water Act mandate for a public comment period. I can tell you that that was a fatal flaw,” Kennedy said. “What we’re doing today is shaving years from a process where that regulation would get thrown out, and we would have to start again.”
The action puts millions of Americans at risk and may violate the anti-backsliding provisio