The Biden administration will require companies to disclose the release of additional “forever chemicals” into the environment, in an effort to better track where the notoriously persistent pollutants are coming from.
EPA will add nine versions of the chemicals — also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS — to the Toxics Release Inventory starting this year, the agency announced Friday. Companies are already required to report when they release nearly 200 other PFAS into the air, water or land, the agency said.
The move comes in response to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which directed EPA to automatically add more PFAS to the list of reportable chemicals once the agency has determined how toxic they are.
Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator of the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said the addition of the chemicals to TRI would ensure transparency for people living near chemical plants and other facilities.
