Read the full article by Will Atwater (NC Health News).
“Two years ago, Emily Donovan stood on a stage in Fayetteville and introduced then-EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
Regan, who was secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality before being tapped by the Biden administration to lead the EPA, had returned to the region — where in 2017 the public first learned that the Cape Fear River was contaminated with per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — to announce the first‑ever national drinking water standards for six of them.
That 2024 rule set legally enforceable limits for several of these substances, known as ‘forever chemicals’ because of their persistence in the environment. The chemicals regulated were PFOA and PFOS — legacy PFAS — plus PFHxS, PFNA and HFPO‑DA (GenX), and for mixtures of those three with PFBS.
Last month, current EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to roll back key parts of that rule. The agency moved to rescind the drinking water standards for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and the PFAS mixture standard that includes PFBS. Zeldin also said the agency also intends to give water systems more time to comply with the maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS.”…