The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced several actions in recent weeks that shed light on the Trump administration’s approach to PFAS regulation.

Despite EPA’s significant deregulatory agenda, the “Major EPA Actions to Combat PFAS Contamination” action plan released on April 28, 2025, stops short of fully rolling back Biden-era PFAS policies. In fact, the new action plan makes clear that EPA intends to continue advancing PFAS regulation but perhaps with a more measured approach on timing and attention to the evolving science, remedial technologies and analytical methods, and partnerships with state and local governments and the regulated community. To that end, as indicated by EPA’s actions in recent days, the agency is proposing to extend compliance deadlines to give both EPA and the regulated community more time to adapt, as well as give the agency more time to evaluate the implications on the regulated community.

• EPA will retain the current MCLs for PFOA and PFOS but will reconsider other PFAS regulatory determinations and extend compliance deadlines to 2031. On May 14, EPA announced that it will keep the Safe Drinking Water Act’s (SDWA) Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for two PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) that were established under the prior administration. However, EPA stated that it intends to “rescind and reconsider” the regulatory determinations for perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), Gen-X, and the Hazard Index mixture of these three plus perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS). EPA also announced it intends to initiate a rulemaking in fall 2025 to extend the deadline for community water systems to comply with the PFAS MCLs to 2031 (from 2029). To help water systems achieve compliance, EPA plans to initiate enhanced outreach to small and rural community water systems through a new PFAS OUTreach Initiative (PFAS OUT).
• Timeframe shift for PFAS reporting under TSCA. On May 13, EPA published an interim final rule delaying the start of the reporting time frame for the PFAS reporting rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by almost a year. As promulgated in October 2023, the regulation requires manufacturers (including importers) of PFAS between 2011 and 2022 to report certain data to EPA related to exposure and environmental and health effects. The reporting window, which was originally scheduled to commence July 11, 2025, will now begin on April 13, 2026, and end October 13, 2026, with an extended end date of April 13, 2027 for small manufacturers reporting exclusively as article importers. EPA states that moving the reporting time frame is necessary to allow EPA to test the online reporting tool and to consider substantive revisions to the rule itself before compliance is required. The interim final rule is effective immediately; any comments must be received on or before June 12.

Meanwhile, at the state level, legislation introduced in 2025 includes requirements to report PFAS use in products and bans on intentionally added PFAS in products, except for “currently unavoidable use” (CUU). Three states — Maine, Minnesota, and New Mexico — are prime examples.

• Maine (which was among the first states to pass a ban on PFAS-containing products) is requiring reporting of PFAS for PFAS-containing products after the sales ban for that product category is in effect and that have a CUU determination. To obtain a CUU, manufacturers are required to apply and supply information explaining, among other things, why PFAS is essential for health, safety, or the functioning of society, how the use of PFAS is essential to the product, and whether there are alternatives available. Manufacturers subject to PFAS bans taking effect January 1, 2026 are asked to apply for CUU determinations by June 1, 2025.
• Minnesota is moving forward with a rulemaking under its PFAS products ban that would require manufactures to report the function of PFAS in their products (even if PFAS is only used in the manufacturing process and not in the final product). Unlike Maine, Minnesota is proposing reporting requirements for all PFAS-containing products, including those exempt from the ban, that are sold in Minnesota beginning January 1, 2026. Comments on the proposed reporting rule are due May 21, 2025.
• New Mexico adopted a similar ban on PFAS during the 2025 legislative session that would apply to almost all consumer products by 2032 unless the use is a CUU. New Mexico’s ban adopts Minnesota’s reporting requirement language, except that reporting is not required for PFAS-containing products that are exempt from the ban. New Mexico’s law also waives reporting for publicly available information and permits PFAS information-sharing with other states such that reporting in one state (like Maine or Minnesota) would satisfy New Mexico’s reporting requirement.

The implementation of these bellwether laws has proven to be challenging — Maine has amended its law several times since was first enacted in 2021, and the Minnesota legislature has introduced several bills that would delay certain deadlines under the state’s PFAS products ban. As a result, other states may hold off enacting similar legislation to observe how the first movers navigate these issues.