Republicans aim to exempt major polluters from Pfas cleanup costs
Source: The Guardian
Republicans aim to exempt major polluters from Pfas cleanup costs
Water treatment and landfill companies given chance to make case that EPA rules should not apply to them
Tom Perkins
Wed 24 Dec 2025 15.00 GMT
Last modified on Wed 24 Dec 2025 15.10 GMT
Republicans are attempting to exempt some major polluters from paying for Pfas “forever chemical” cleanup. If successful, it could mark a major setback in US effort to rein in Pfas pollution.
The Republican-led House energy and commerce committee recently held a hearing at which it invited representatives from the water treatment and landfill industries, among others, to make the case about why they should be exempted from rules that hold polluters financially accountable for the cleanup of two types of dangerous Pfas.
Water treatment plants and landfills are major polluters and represent critical points in the effort to curb Pfas water pollution nationwide. Utilities already have to remove hundreds of chemicals, so it is unclear why they are so opposed to removing two types of Pfas, said Scott Faber, vice-president of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group non-profit.
“The only real difference is Pfas are more toxic … so the fact that water utilities and landfills are being such crybabies about Pfas says something about how little regard for public health they have,” Faber said.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/24/republicans-pfas-cleanup-costs