District Court Stays Litigation Challenging de Minimis Exemption for PFAS TRI Reporting

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stayed litigation challenging de minimis exemptions for PFAS Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting. The plaintiff environmentalists’ suit alleges the EPA’s rule allowing the de minimis exemption to apply to PFAS violates the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, the federal law authorizing TRI, as well as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, and allows companies to allegedly evade reporting PFAS that would otherwise be disclosed. In its January 3, 2023 order, the court cited judicial economy and unlikely harm to plaintiffs in granting the EPA’s stay request. The EPA’s primary argument in support of its motion to stay was that the agency is currently engaged in rulemaking, the outcome of which would likely moot the dispute.

January 3, 2023 | National PFAS Contamination Coalition, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., No. 1:22-cv-00132 (D.D.C. Jan. 3, 2023).