Navigating Sites With PFAS Through The Superfund Process Is Going To Be A Bumpy Ride (Video)

For most of this century, I've been asked with some regularity whether Superfund was dead. I've always considered that question to be a victory of hope over expectation. Notwithstanding frequent criticism, frequently deserved, Superfund refuses to go away. As I made clear in a post this past April, the developing awareness of the problems caused by PFAS has pretty much proved Mark Twain once more to be on point. The reports of the death of Superfund have been greatly exaggerated.

All of this brings us to a report last week from Inside EPA (subscription required), which discussed EPA's use of the Five-Year Review process to require PRPs to investigate the potential presence of PFAS at Superfund sites. In the article, an industry attorney complained that such Five-Year Reviews are "fishing expeditions". I have some sympathy for this concern. If I may mix my metaphors, given the near omnipresence of PFAS, it's somewhat akin to a fishing expedition conducted in a