Herb Estreicher Quoted in Inside TSCA Article on PFAS

Keller and Heckman Partner Herb Estreicher was quoted in the Inside TSCA article, “Attorney Sees Rapid TSCA Action on PFAS but Warns Against Grouping.” In the article, Herb discusses a case against environmentalists’ bid for EPA to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as a single class or in large groups under TSCA. He argued that while he expects the Biden administration’s PFAS agenda to “ramp up very quickly” there is little precedent or justification for a class-based approach.

During Keller and Heckman’s March 17th TSCA 30/30 webinar, Herb noted that EPA has limited historic practice to look to if it agrees to regulate many PFAS, or the entire class, as a group under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) action as environmentalists have urged.

“I want to tell you there are relatively few cases where there have been umbrella regulations on whole classes of chemicals. The ones that come to mind are dioxins, PCBs and fluorocarbons, so it's been relatively rare that you see a kind of feeding frenzy against a whole class of chemicals,” Herb said.

Moreover, he explained that EPA has already regulated many individual PFAS, including hundreds that are subject to significant new use rules (SNURs) or consent orders under TSCA’s new chemicals program. “By and large there is some regulation in place in the U.S. for a large number of the PFAS chemicals under the TSCA new chemicals program,” he said.

The Trump administration rejected citizen petitions seeking more stringent chemical regulations, but Herb said EPA could soon reverse itself on several of those subjects, particularly PFAS. “[N]ow that we have a Biden administration, things are going to ramp up very, very quickly.”

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