17414_Authority_April_2024

46 The Authority | APRIL 2024 EPA Requires Toxics Release Inventory Reporting for Seven Additional PFAS WASHINGTON - Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the automatic addition of seven per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). TRI data is reported to EPA annually by facilities in designated industry sectors and federal facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use TRI-listed chemicals above set quantities. The data include quantities of such chemicals that were released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste. Information collected through TRI allows communities to learn how facilities in their area are managing listed chemicals. The data collected is available online (www.epa.gov/ toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/ findunderstand-and-use-tri) and helps to support informed decision-making by companies, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the public, and advances the Biden-Harris commitments to ensuring environmental justice through improved accountability and transparency for families, workers, and communities across the country. The addition of these seven PFAS helps to further the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment (www. whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/ statements-releases/2021/10/18/fact- sheet-biden-harris-administration- launches-plan-tocombat-pfas- pollution/) to address the impacts of these forever chemicals, and advances EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap (www. epa.gov/pfas/pfas-strategic-roadmap- epas-commitments-action-2021-2024) to confront the human health and environmental risks of PFAS. “With these additions to the Toxics Release Inventory, we’ll be collecting data on the release and management of almost 200 PFAS in communities across the country, furthering our efforts to better understand and protect people from these chemicals,” said Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff. “We’ll also share this information with the public, empowering communities to engage with the facilities using these chemicals to prevent or reduce pollution.” These seven PFAS were added to the TRI list pursuant to the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which provides the framework for the automatic addition of PFAS to TRI each year in response to specified EPA activities involving such PFAS. For TRI Reporting Year 2024 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2025), reporting is required for these seven additional PFAS, bringing the total PFAS subject to TRI reporting to 196. Addition of PFAS with final toxicity values The 2020 NDAA includes a provision that automatically adds PFAS to the TRI list upon the Agency’s finalization of a toxicity value. Six PFAS were automatically added for Reporting Year 2024 due to EPA having finalized a toxicity value during 2023. Only these particular salt forms of the acids are added to the list. • Ammonium perfluorohexanoate; Chemical Abstract Service Registration Number (CASRN) 21615-47-4 • Lithium bis[(trifluoromethyl) sulfonyl] azanide; CASRN 90076- 65-6 • Perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA); CASRN 307-24-4