The Trump administration is seeking to roll back Biden-era limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water, imperiling a landmark 2024 environmental finding and angering parts of the president’s Make America Healthy Again base.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans Monday to repeal limits on four types of forever chemicals, while delaying regulations on another two. The compounds are known as forever chemicals because of their ability to linger for long durations in the environment and accumulate in the human body.
The proposal would scrap Biden-era limits on four so-called PFAS compounds. EPA officials had previously concluded that long-term exposure to the chemicals was linked to cancer, immune issues, and developmental delays in children. Once the limits are repealed, the EPA wants to review the compounds and consider new regulations. The administration is also seeking to give utilities up to a two-year delay in complying with limits on another related set of compounds, PFOS and PFOA.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin argued the moves, which are now open for two months of public comment before being finalized, could ultimately result in stronger environmental regulations. He claimed Monday they were necessary because the Biden administration rushed the regulatory process, exposing the 2024 limits to a set of court challenges from chemical manufacturers and utilities.
“It’s not because they don’t matter,” Zeldin, a former Republican congressman and Trump ally, said at the EPA headquarters in Washington at an event announcing the steps. “They might warrant strict standards, possibly even stricter than what was previously regulated.”
“The president is completely committed to removing PFAS,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. added during the event.
Some supporters of the Kennedy-aligned MAHA movement criticized the attempted rollback.
“We have more than enough evidence to show that forever chemicals are harmful to human health,” activist Kelly Ryerson, known online as the Glyphosate Girl, told The New York Times. “I would strongly advise the EPA not to move forward on deregulating PFAS if they want to win the November midterms.”
Environmentalists had similar concerns about rolling back the 2024 Biden policies, the first new federal contaminant standard for drinking water since 1996, and the first ever national legally enforceable PFAS water standard.
“I don’t see how you put a positive light on this,” David Andrews, chief science officer for the Environmental Working Group, told The Washington Post. “Ultimately, I see this as a betrayal of public health and the mission of making America healthier. Safe and clean drinking water should be a right for everyone in this country.”
The Trump administration previously angered its MAHA backers by reapproving the weedkiller dicamba for use on genetically modified soybeans and cotton. Critics allege the weedkiller has a tendency to drift into neighboring fields, destroying crops not bred to resist it.
