Bowing to Industry Pressure, Trump’s EPA Rolls Back PFAS Protections for Drinking Water

Today, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was rolling back protections on PFAS in drinking water. The rules, set by the Biden administration last year, would have required the removal of six prevalent types of PFAS from drinking water systems throughout the country. Zeldin intends to rescind limits on four of those – PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA (known as GenX) and PFBS – while delaying the remaining two (PFOA and PFOS). The compliance deadline for the limits on PFOA and PFOS will be delayed for two years, until 2031, and a new rule will be issued that also establishes a federal exemption framework.

The announcement was made by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has repeatedly stated support for stronger PFAS protections and even voted for the PFAS Action Act of 2021 to address PFAS contamination while serving in the U.S. House.

In response, Mary Grant, water program director at Food & Water Watch issued the following statement:

“Today’s decision is a shameful and dangerous capitulation to industry pressure that will allow continued contamination of our drinking water with toxic PFAS. This will cost lives.
“Zeldin and the Trump administration are illegally gutting basic water safety protections, blaming the cost of upgrades to comply with those important public health rules. Yet just last week the administration proposed to virtually eliminate the main source of federal funding that would help make the necessary water system improvements to protect from PFAS.
“Once again, the Trump administration has demonstrated that its priority is bending to corporate interests, not protecting the safety and wellbeing of everyday people. Nothing is safe from Trump’s greed-driven agenda — not even our drinking water.”

Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS are lab-made chemicals that have been linked to a large range of health problems including various cancers, altered hormone levels, decreased birth weights, digestive inflammation, and reduced vaccine response. New research comes out almost every day that indicates no amount is safe. It is estimated that about half of all Americans are regularly exposed to PFAS contamination through their drinking water.

Last year, after decades of community organizing, the Biden EPA finalized long-awaited protections to remove six types of PFAS from drinking water. In April 2024, the EPA set maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS of 4 ppt each; MCLs for PFHxS, PFNA and GenX at 10 ppt, and limits on a combination of four PFAS types (PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX) based on a hazard index. Utilities had five years to comply with the new limits.

Today’s decision to rollback the Biden EPA’s rules was in response to a consolidated lawsuit from water utility associations and industrial associations, including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council and Chemours. The chemical lobby has long-fought regulations on these toxic substances, while not disclosing a growing body of evidence linking their products to serious health problems. A Food & Water Watch report found the chemical industry spent more than $110 million from 2019-2022 alone on lobbying Congress on scores of bills, including many to address the crisis of PFAS contamination throughout the country. The Trump administration has stacked the EPA with former executives and staff from the American Chemistry Council, including Nancy Beck and Lynn Ann Dekleva and lawyers like David Fotouhi, who have defended companies from PFAS pollution claims.

As a result of today’s action, the EPA is seeking to delay action to protect drinking water that will lead to the proposal of weaker protections. Although the EPA intends to defend the PFOS and PFOA regulations from court challenges, it also intends to propose a new rule this Fall and finalize it in the Spring of 2026. The Safe Drinking Water Act, however, has strong provisions barring the weakening existing drinking water regulations, so efforts to gut the existing PFAS rules should expect legal opposition. Further complicating matters, the Trump administration has issued an executive order requiring 10 rules to be tossed for every new regulation issued, making the future of any new PFAS protection uncertain.