Updates To PFAS Effluent Limitation Guidelines Under The Clean Water Act

According to the Unified Regulatory Agenda, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA" or "the Agency") plans to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking ("NPRM") under the Clean Water Act ("CWA") to update effluent limitation guidelines ("ELGs") for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances ("PFAS") manufacturers. The Agency planned to publish the NPRM in January 2026, but as of the date of this blog post, EPA has not submitted the NPRM to the Office of Management and Budget for review. As such, the Agency may be delaying publishing the NPRM—perhaps signaling a distinction between the Biden and Trump Administrations' approaches to PFAS regulation.

The Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic Fibers ("OCPSF") regulation, promulgated under the CWA, applies to wastewater discharges from more than 1,000 chemical facilities producing over 25,000 end products. A small subset of facilities that manufacture or formulate PFAS—known colloquially as "forever chemicals"—are