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PFAS rule-making process is taking months

Eva Stebel, water researcher, pours a water sample into a smaller glass container for experimentation as part of drinking water and PFAS research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response on Feb. 16, 2023, in Cincinnati. Three chemical companies said Friday, June 2, 2023, that they had reached a $1.18 billion deal to resolve complaints of polluting many U.S. drinking water systems with potentially harmful compounds known as PFAS.
AP Photo
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Joshua A. Bickel, File
File: Eva Stebel, water researcher, pours a water sample into a smaller glass container for experimentation as part of drinking water and PFAS research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response.

State environmental officials are in the process of adopting water regulations for toxic chemicals known as PFAS; the lengthy rule-making process is taking months.

The state groundwater and waste management committee met yesterday. This committee falls under the state Environmental Management Commission. At the committee’s meeting, the department of environmental quality - or DEQ - presented information about adopting groundwater regulations for 8 kinds of PFAS.

DEQ asked the committee to vote to move forward with the proposed regulations. The next step in the rule making process would be for the full Commission to receive the proposed regulations.

Instead, the committee directed DEQ to return in September with a revised regulatory impact analysis for three types of PFAS.

Separately, DEQ is also in the rule making process to adopt surface water regulations.