"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule that will tighten the reporting requirements for facilities that use or release certain types of toxic “forever chemicals.”

With the rule’s implementation, the EPA is now designating 189 compounds from a group of chemicals known as PFAS — of which there are thousands — as “chemicals of special concern.”

Doing so, the agency explained, will eliminate an existing loophole that enabled facilities to avoid reporting data about PFAS — an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) when using these compounds in low concentrations.

“People deserve to know if they’re being exposed to PFAS through the air they breathe, the water they drink, or while they’re on the job,” said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), in a statement."

Sharon Udasin reports for The Hill October 20, 2023. [2]