The Trump administration has stalled a study that would help regulators understand which industries dump harmful forever chemicals with their wastewater, according to two former agency officials who were involved in its development.
A public notice shows the first of its kind survey of wastewater treatment plants was submitted to the White House for approval nearly two years ago during the Biden administration — a far longer wait than is typical.
Many wastewater treatment plants receive PFAS-contaminated waste. A nationwide survey of hundreds of plants would help identify the source of that PFAS and c
ould inform new regulations to limit their spread, according to Robert Wood, director of the engineering and analysis division in the EPA’s Office of Water before his retirement in 2024.
“If we can determine the top one, the top two, the top three” industries that dump PFAS, said Wood, “then we start work on the detailed studies and the regulation to get after nationwide limits on PFAS for the predominant industrial dischargers.”
Researchers have linked the family of chemicals called PFAS to increased risk of cert
ain cancers, developmental effects in children, resistance to vaccines and other health problems. The man-made chemicals once commonly used in products like
waterproof shoes and nonstick pans are also widespread in the environment and hard to remove, making them an especially challenging public health
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threat. Wastewater treatment plants, for example, typically aren’t equipped to separate them from waste, which means they are released back into rivers and onto soil.
The survey was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which must approve it, in October 2024.
“This is sufficiently unusual and a very long period of time that it is worth asking the question: Is OMB just sitting on it?” said Stuart Shapiro, a former OMB staffer and dean at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey. He said reviews typically take around 60 days.
The OMB did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration’s nuanced — and at times controversial — stance towards PFAS
The Trump administration has promised to combat PFAS. They’ve kept tough Biden-era limits on two common types of PFAS in drinking water and support work to find new ways to remove the chemicals from the environment.