The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, DC, on March 15, 2018. (Garret Ellison | MLive)
WASHINGTON, DC — More than two years after a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator said during a 2018 pollution summit that the agency would regulate toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in American drinking water, EPA leaders finally announced a commitment to do just that on Donald Trump’s last full day as president.
On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the EPA announced it “will now initiate the process to develop a national primary drinking water regulation” under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act for two individual compounds, PFOS and PFOA — the most well-known and studied among thousands of different PFAS variants in use or polluting various water supplies.
