OMB Starts Review of Regulatory Determinations for PFOA and PFOS

With all of the publicity surrounding the publication of the final Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR), the posting of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) review of “Regulatory Determinations for Contaminants Including Perfluorooctanic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS)” on Friday, 12/18, slipped “under the radar” a bit. Given the timing of this review and the fact that this action is a regulatory decision, i.e., the final decision to regulate PFOA and PFOS, or not to regulate or take another action, as opposed to a final regulation which typically takes more time for OMB to review, means that it’s likely that the final determinations will be published before Inauguration Day (1/20/21). On March 10, 2020, EPA published the preliminary regulatory determinations to regulate both PFOS and PFOS, i.e., the Preliminary Fourth Regulatory Determinations. EPA’s regulatory determinations are on a five-year cycle and the Third Regulatory Determinations were published on January 4, 2016, so, technically, EPA has a statutory deadline of publish the final Fourth Regulatory Determinations by January 4, 2021, and it appears EPA is pushing towards meeting that deadline.