U.S. EPA Identifies Five PFAS Added to Toxic Release Inventory List, Four of Them Newly Required for Reporting by July 1, 2023

On July 18, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule updating the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) to identify five per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) added to the TRI pursuant to the framework set by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA). For reporting year 2022, that is, forms due by July 1, 2023, facilities in TRI-covered industry sectors should begin tracking and collecting the following four chemicals during 2022:

  • perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (CASRN 375-73-5)
  • potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate (CASRN 29420-49-3)
  • perfluorobutanesulfonate (CASRN 45187-15-3)
  • 2-propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, hexadecyl ester, polymers with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, .gamma.-.omega.-perfluoro-C10-16-alkyl acrylate and stearyl methacrylate (CASRN 203743-03-7), which is no longer claimed as confidential business information

The final rule identified another PFAS (CASRN 65104-45-2) that was automatically added to the TRI under the NDAA as the chemical was added to a significant new use rule. The EPA’s action follows upon its January 2022 announcement, which added four PFAS substances to the TRI list, as discussed in our blog post. As before, EPA did not provide notice and comment using the “good cause” exception under Section 553(b)(B) of the Administrative Procedure Act. The final rule will be effective on August 17, 2022.

This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.