EPA Announces the Addition of Four PFAS to the Toxics Release Inventory

On January 24, EPA announced the addition of four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI, under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, is a resource for obtaining information related to chemicals such as annual releases, quantities of these releases, waste management, and pollution prevention activities. The data is reported by nearly 22,000 industrial and federal facilities.

The Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) identifies certain regulatory activities that automatically add PFAS to the TRI. EPA’s finalization of a toxicity value is one of the triggering actions. EPA finalized toxicity values for both perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) and potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate and subsequently added both substances to the TRI.

Additionally, the NDAA required PFAS that are regulated by an existing significant new use rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act to be added to the TRI. The Agency has identified an additional PFAS that meets this criterion and has added it to the list. Finally, EPA excluded one known PFAS from the initial TRI update due to a confidential business information (CBI) claim related to its identity. After review by EPA, as required under the NDAA, this PFAS was declassified as CBI and therefore was added to the inventory.