Federal PFAS action may slow, but not state efforts or litigation

The US Environmental Protection Agency begins 2026 amid a move to rescind drinking water standards for four types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), along with other ongoing actions on these “forever chemicals.” Policy and regulation experts tell C&EN that we may see less new federal action on PFAS this year but that litigation and state action show no signs of slowing down.Asked about this effort and other agency priorities regarding PFAS in 2026, an EPA spokesperson wrote to C&EN, “The Trump EPA is committed to addressing PFAS with gold-standard science to ensure that Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water, carrying out our core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”The federal drinking water standards for the four PFAS were established in 2024 as part of a package that also limits perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Water utility groups have sued the EPA over these standards. The EPA will defend the limits on PFOA and PFOS but has asked the court in this case to annul the limits for the other four chemicals: perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA). The 2024 regulation came amid a groundswell of awareness about PFAS. “It’s not new to people that PFAS are a problem, but I think what has really grown, say in the last decade, is awareness of how widespread the issue is,” says Alissa Cordner, an environmental sociology professor at Whitman College who coleads the PFAS Project Lab.