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FedCenter has developed this PFAS Resources Program Area page to consolidate information on PFAS compounds for federal agencies. This page includes information from federal, state, local, and tribal governments and non-governmental and private organizations. Information ranges from regulations and guidance to scientific studies, conferences, and trainings. The page will be updated regularly to assist federal agencies in addressing this increasingly important topic.
What is PFAS?
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a class of human-made chemicals manufactured and used in a range of industries since the 1940s. The group consists of thousands of chemicals, including PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), which are the two most-studied PFAS compounds. PFAS are highly stable oil- and water-resistant compounds and have been used in a variety of products such as carpets, waterproof clothing, non-stick pans, dental floss, chrome-plating, and firefighting foam. PFAS are also environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative. PFAS have been associated with adverse health affects, including low infant birth weight, thyroid hormone disruption, high cholesterol, and certain cancers.
Scientific research on PFAS continues to develop and, as the scientific community and regulators increase their knowledge of PFAS, regulatory action to address the compounds is also increasing. This page will be updated with a range of information in the categories below to keep federal agencies apprised of the latest developments regarding PFAS compounds. More on PFAS basics at EPA.
Please use the links below to quickly jump to the information area needed or scroll down to view all items.
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On January 14, 2021, EPA signed an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). The ANPRM was not published in the Federal Register and is undergoing review in accordance with the Regulatory Freeze Pending Review Memorandum that White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain issued on January 20, 2021.
Eight Agencies Announce Steps, including New EPA Roadmap, to Take Comprehensive Approach to Addressing PFAS & Advancing Clean Air, Water, and Food. To safeguard public health and protect the environment, the efforts outlined in this fact sheet will help prevent PFAS from being released into the air, drinking systems, and food supply, and the actions will expand cleanup efforts to remediate the impacts of these harmful pollutants.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to make addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment an active and ongoing priority. As part of these efforts, today, EPA is issuing a final guidance document that outlines which imported articles are covered by the agency's July 2020 final rule that prohibits companies from manufacturing, importing, processing, or using certain long-chain PFAS without prior EPA review and approval. There are no significant changes between the final guidance document and the draft document, which was released for public comment in December.
(pfas npdes guidance cwa
This memorandum provides EPA's guidance to states for addressing PFAS discharges when they are authorized to administer the NPDES permitting program and/or pretreatment program. While the Office of Water works to revise Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) and develop water quality criteria to support technology-based and water quality-based effluent limits for PFAS in NPDES permits, this memorandum describes steps permit writers can implement under existing authorities to reduce the discharge of PFAS.
Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability
December 8, 2021
President Biden has signed an Executive Order that demonstrates how the United States will leverage its scale and procurement power to lead by example in tackling the climate crisis. The executive order will reduce emissions across federal operations, invest in American clean energy industries and manufacturing, and create clean, healthy, and resilient communities.
On December 19, 2019, EPA released Interim Recommendations for Addressing Groundwater Contaminated with PFOA and PFOS. These recommendations provide clear and consistent guidance for federal cleanup sites being evaluated and addressed under federal programs, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and corrective action under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The recommendations in this guidance may also be useful for state, tribal, or other regulatory authorities (e.g., federal facility cleanup programs and approved state RCRA corrective action programs).
The DOE PFAS Strategic Roadmap outlines the Department's overall approach, goals and objectives, and planned actions to assess and manage PFAS risk at DOE sites, and in so doing, to help ensure the protection of human health and the environment.
The roadmap sets timelines by which EPA plans to take specific actions and commits to bolder new policies to safeguard public health, protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable. The actions described in the PFAS Roadmap each represent important and meaningful steps to safeguard communities from PFAS contamination. Cumulatively, these actions will build upon one another and lead to more enduring and protective solutions.
Compiled by the Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC), current as of May 2021, the Water Table and the Soil Table found in this MS Excel document includes the available PFAS water and soil values established by the USEPA, each pertinent state, or country (Australia, Canada and Western European countries.)
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EPA is adding three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of chemicals subject to toxic chemical release reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA). This action implements the statutory mandate in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY2020 NDAA) enacted on December 20, 2019. As this action is being taken to conform the regulations to a Congressional legislative mandate, notice and comment rulemaking is unnecessary. This final rule is effective 6 July 2021. POC is Daniel R. Ruedy, Data Gathering and Analysis Division, Mail Code 7410M, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460-0001; tel: (202) 564-7974; email: ruedy.daniel@epa.gov. ( Federal Register 3 June 2021 [Rule] Pages 29698-29701)
The 2024 updated interim guidance presents available information on the destruction and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and PFAS-containing materials. This update identifies available, effective and methods to remediate, dispose of and destroy PFAS contamination. It provides information on the current state of science and associated uncertainties for three large-scale capacity technologies that can destroy PFAS or control PFAS release into the environment: thermal destruction, landfills, and underground injection.?This guidance will help decision-makers select technologies based on characteristics of the waste and options available to prevent releases and keep PFAS out of the environment.??The primary audience of this guidance is decision makers who need to identify the most effective means for destroying or disposing of PFAS-containing materials and wastes.
Fact Sheet: 2024 Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of PFAS (pdf)
There are a variety of laws and regulations to protect public health and the environment as it relates to PFAS in the environment.
This law directs the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop guidance for firefighters and other emergency response personnel on best practices to protect them from exposure to PFAS and to limit and prevent the release of PFAS into the environment.
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This DoD report provides details on what is currently known about direct and indirect mission critical PFAS uses that could impact mission readiness if the substances are no longer available. It also highlights the challenges and costs related to finding and qualifying equal or improved performing alternatives to existing PFAS materials in sectors of strategic importance to DoD.
The EPA's Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15) lays out how EPA will work to protect the nation's waterways by following the science and the Clean Water Act to develop technology-based pollution limits and studies on wastewater discharges from industrial sources. This Plan focuses on evaluating the extent and nature of both nutrient and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discharges. Plan 15 further advances EPA's commitment in the PFAS Strategic Roadmap to restrict PFAS discharges from industrial sources through a multi-faceted Effluent Limitations Guidelines program.
The chart on this page characterizes how standards/ecolabels included in EPA's Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing address Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). The recommendations help purchasers identify and use private sector environmental performance standards and ecolabels within federal procurement to help them meet various sustainability goals and requirements.
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Newsletter sponsored by Northeastern University's Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute.
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On December 18th, EPA announced the new validated Method 533 for testing additional short chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. Method 533 measure PFAS by isotope dilution anion exchange solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The lowest concentration minimum reporting levels (LCMRLs) for the method analytes are provided in a table and range from 1.4 to 16 nanograms/L ((ng/L) or parts per trillion (ppt)). The combination of this new method and existing EPA methods can now measure 29 different PFAS compounds in drinking water.
EPA released an updated toxicity assessment for perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), a member of a larger group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFBS assessment is part of EPA's commitment to restore scientific integrity to all of the agency's actions and increase the amount of research and information available to the public on PFAS chemicals.
EPA, federal agencies, states, tribes, and local communities can use the PFBS toxicity assessment, along with specific exposure and other relevant information, to determine if and when it is necessary to take action to address potential health risks associated with human exposures to PFBS under appropriate regulations and statutes.
EPA's PFAS Action Plan outlines concrete steps the agency is taking to address PFAS and to protect public health. EPA's website provides basic information, tools, and resources regarding PFAS.
This website includes the PFAS Technical and Regulatory Guidance Document, PFAS Fact Sheets and Explainer Videos, Training Module Videos and external tables of data and information prepared by the ITRC PFAS Team.
This Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) online document includes the PFAS Technical and Regulatory Guidance Document, PFAS Fact Sheets and Explainer Videos, Training Module Videos and external tables of data and information prepared by the ITRC PFAS Team. The document is designed specifically to support state and federal environmental staff, as well as others (including stakeholders, project managers, and decision makers), to gain a working knowledge of the current state of PFAS science and practice.
There are a variety of resources available to states dealing with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) including a bimonthly ECOS-EPA PFAS call, PFAS data and tools developed by EPA, EPA PFAS research timelines, and PFAS risk communication webpages.
EPA continues its focus on taking concrete action to address PFAS and protect public health. Building on the work outlined in the February 2019 PFAS Action Plan, the agency is expanding its research efforts and capabilities by launching its PFAS Innovative Treatment Team (PITT).
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EPA memorandum to create a new "EPA Council on PFAS" that is charged with building on the agency's ongoing work to better understand and ultimately reduce the potential risks caused by these chemicals.
The ITRC PFAS Team is producing technical resources to help regulators and other stakeholders improve their understanding of the current science regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
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Proceedings from the 2020 ECOS State Environmental Protection (STEP) Meeting, Partnering on PFAS, a two-afternoon, virtual policy summit to explore how state and federal regulators and a variety of other stakeholders are coordinating to combat PFAS contamination.
Webinar proceedings from DoD-funded research to improve understanding of the ecological risks of PFAS.
The Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) holds meeting or trainings every other month that are an open forum for anyone interested or working in plant conservation. Each meeting features a speaker from the plant conservation community. In addition, there is a roundtable for attendees to share relevant events, as well as updates from each of the PCA working groups and committees. Regular attendees include representatives from the PCA Federal agencies and from Cooperating organizations; however anyone is welcome to attend this meeting.
Learn about EPA's PFAS Strategic Roadmap and how EPA's Pollution Prevention program is harnessing the power of EPA Recommended standards and ecolabels to incentivize addressing PFAS in products and procurement. Additionally, hear from state agencies about how they are identifying PFAS in products and alternatives. Pollution Prevention Grantees will also share about their work reducing PFAS in products and manufacturing.
DoD website providing current information on DoD related activities related to PFAS.
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Executive Order 14057
