EPA is still evaluating how it plans to regulate “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a process that has taken “longer than anticipated,” the Trump administration said in a court filing Wednesday.
The agency is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for another 45-day pause in litigation challenging last year’s first-ever national drinking water rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
EPA has said it will maintain stringent limits in tap water for two substances, PFOA and PFOS, while giving water utilities an additional two years to meet those limits. But it is still considering to what extent it will regulate other PFAS included in the Biden-era rule. EPA says it will propose a new rule in the fall.
“EPA is still evaluating the impact of its planned reconsideration and compliance extension proceedings on the issues presented in this case,” attorneys for EPA said in the new court filing. “This evaluation has taken longer than anticipated at the time EPA filed its last motion to govern.”
