In 2025, many facilities that have never had to complete Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting will be required to submit reports on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This is because of the addition of more than 196 PFAS to the TRI list in 2024 and the elimination of the de minimis exemption, which allowed facilities using less than regulated threshold amounts of PFAS to be exempt from reporting requirements.

 

“Since 2021, the EPA has leveraged its research and regulatory programs to collect and generate more data on PFAS,” states the “EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap: Three Years of Progress” report. “This includes the EPA’s … nationwide drinking water monitoring program, UCMR5; finalizing a regulation under TSCA that will generate the largest-ever dataset of PFAS manufactured and used in the United States; and significant improvements to [TRI] PFAS reporting that have eliminated exemptions that previously allowed facilities to avoid reporting, by regularly adding PFAS to the TRI list as science evolves, and by proposing a rule in October 2024 that would require reporting on 16 individual PFAS and 15 categories of PFAS, representing over 100 individual PFAS.”

PFAS were designated as chemicals of special concern by the EPA in October 2023. This action eliminated the PFAS reporting process that used “Form A.”

“EPA also now requires facilities to count all listed PFAS toward the reporting threshold, including PFAS contained in articles and mixtures at very low concentrations (less than 1%) that previously did not need to be counted,” according to a JD Supra article by Shepherd Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. “Now, once a listed PFAS exceeds the 100-pound threshold, EPA requires a full report including information on releases into the environment.”

Facilities that meet the following criteria must complete TRI PFAS reporting:

• Several industry sectors are included in the final rule, including:
• Manufacturing
• Mining
• Electric utilities
• Waste treatment
• Storage and disposal
• Solvent recovery services chemical distributors
• Petroleum bulk terminals
• Natural gas processors
• At least 10 full-time employees (or equivalent) at the reporting facility.
• Companies that manufacture, process, or otherwise use hazardous chemicals. Manufacturing is defined to include the production of listed chemicals as impurities or byproducts, as well as imports of listed chemicals. Processing is defined as including the preparation of a chemical for distribution in commerce.

“Companies with facilities that meet these criteria should evaluate their processes and products to determine whether any listed PFAS occur in quantities sufficient to meet the reporting threshold under the new requirements,” advises Shepherd Mullin.

Due to the reporting regulation changes, the total number of facilities submitting PFAS TRI reports is expected to increase from 50 to approximately 2,015, according to the EPA.

To see the list of the 196 PFAS added to the TRI list, see the EPA PDF.

The 2024 reporting year deadline is July 1, 2025.