State updates hazardous substances list to include harmful forever chemicals, begins rulemaking
Firefighting foam 'unintentionally released' in an aircraft hangar at Travis Air Force Base in California on Sept. 24, 2013. Firefighting foam contains PFAS or "forever chemicals" that have gotten into the environment and groundwater. Oregon and other states are required to test for the contaminants during the next two years under guidance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Ken Wright/U.S. Air Force)
Oregon's list of regulated hazardous substances is getting its first update in nearly two decades with the addition of six 'forever chemicals' known to harm human health.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday announced it would add six perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to the state's list of more than 800 regulated contaminants and begin creating regulations to limit Oregonians' exposure to them.
'We need this rulemaking to hold parties responsible for contamination and to address that contamination,' said Sarah Van Glubt, a manager in DEQ's environmental cleanup program who is leading the rulemaking. 'Otherwise, right now, everything is voluntary. We can't require parties to test and treat for these chemicals.'.
The Environmental Quality Commission is expected to vote on adding the chemicals to the state's list and adopting new regulations on or after May 21.
Email comments to: PFAS2025@deq.oregon.gov
Join a public hearing on April 22 at 11 a.m. here or 6 p.m. here
PFAS are human-made chemical chains used in products such as flame retardants, nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing that do not break down or go away naturally but instead have for decades leached into rivers and streams and contaminated soil, water and even air.
They are thought to now be in the blood of everyone in the U.S., according to research and testing from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and can lead to increased risks for cancers, heart damage, high cholesterol and birth defects, among other adverse health effects.
Suspected sources of past or ongoing PFAS pollution in Oregon include 139 commercial airports that are or were required to maintain PFAS-containing firefighting foam on site, as well as 18 municipal fire training facilities near 20 of the most populous cities in the state, according to rulemaking documents from DEQ.
Officials at Portland International Airport began testing for PFAS in 2017 in and around a firefighter training ground there used by the Air National Guard. They identified PFAS contamination adjacent to the nearby Columbia Slough and found PFAS-impaired fish and aquatic species. They've since switched to using PFAS-free firefighting foam and have begun initial stages of cleanup.
Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill — Senate Bill 91 — that would ban PFAS from firefighting foam used on the ground by firefighters. The Oregon Senate voted to pass the bill nearly unanimously in February, but a vote in the House has not yet been scheduled.
Other sites to potentially test for PFAS contamination include 22 bulk fuel facilities and 93 metal plating facilities in Oregon.
In 2024, the U.S. Envionmental Protection Agency added several PFAS to the federal list of regulated hazardous substances, and mandated states begin testing for them in drinking water systems.
The Oregon Health Authority has identified PFAS in 35 Oregon public drinking water systems, with 24 of those exceeding the EPA's new drinking water standards for the compounds. The state has until April 2026 to adopt the federal agency's new PFAS standards and public water systems have until April 2029 to comply with those standards.
DEQ's new regulations would apply to PFAS pollution in rivers, lakes, soil and groundwater but would not address potential contamination released through the air, such as when biosolids and sewage sludge containing PFAS are burned, releasing PFAS into the air, or potential PFAS contamination from those biosolids being spread on farm fields as fertilizer.
Biosolids filtered from Portland's sewer and wastewater get heated and dried out in anaerobic digestors and sent to farms in eastern Oregon as fertilizer. The department doesn't test those biosolids, which likely contain PFAS.
Department spokesman Antony Sparrow said the EPA is developing a risk assessment for sewage sludge that will inform future state regulations.
Van Glubt said the department is working on a strategic plan that would combine the work of DEQ's air, water, biosolids and other teams, as well as work being done at other agencies, to deal with ongoing PFAS issues.
'This rule making really is just addressing one piece of the puzzle,' she said. 'There are other issues at play with PFAS that will need to be addressed.'.
Oregon's hazardous substances list was last updated in 2006, when environmental regulators added methane to the list.
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Wastewater sites can also leech PFAs into the water. The chemicals have been linked to serious health issues including liver damage, some cancers and harm to unborn children, thyroid disease and fertility issues. Large-scale studies have shown that PFAs in drinking water correlates with increased levels of cancer in multiple parts of the body. A review in the journal eBioMedicine linked PFAs exposure to decreased efficiency in vaccines, premature birth, increased severity of COVID-19, along with cancer, reduced immune function and developmental delays in children. Water companies in England and Wales must monitor and regulate 48 types of PFAs, despite there being thousands of varieties, with many remaining untested. But this Drinking Water Inspectorate ruling actually goes further than EU legislation. Individual PFAs concentrations in drinking water cannot exceed 100 nanograms per litre (ng/L). 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Natalie Sims, from the Royal Society of Chemistry, told Yahoo News: 'There is more that could be being done, and that is why we are calling for action.' The Royal Society of Chemistry has mapped levels of the chemicals in Britain's drinking waters, and is calling for the public to take action to raise the issue. 'The public can be really powerful, and I think we have seen that when we look at tackling sewage overflows, that's really been pushed up the government agenda, because the public is also pushing for it," Sims says. 'That's why we really want to take action now, and that's why there's been much more push for it from organisations like ourselves or others. In addition to developing alternative materials, we urgently need stronger, more robust controls to prevent further pollution and reduce our exposure to harmful substances in the environment.' PFAs are a group of thousands of chemicals that don't occur in nature and are extremely hard to get rid of. They also also toxic, even in small quantities. They have been used in manufacturing and consumer products since the 1940s. 'We've used them so extensively, really since the 1940s they found our way in so many different consumer products," Sims explains. "For example, in your waterproof coat, anything waterproofing, school children's clothing, anything stain resistant. PFAs have some desirable properties, and are so good at what they do in terms of that heat resistance, that water and oil resistance, stain resistance, durability, often a lot of the things that makes it very useful in products. 'Because they're so persistent, they obviously found their way into the environment, into our food, into our water. They are also used in jet engines, medical devices, refrigeration systems, the construction industry and electrical devices. In the environment, they can last for extremely long periods: hundreds or even thousands of years. They also accumulate in human bodies. 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Wall Street Journal
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The U.S. Has a ‘Forever Chemicals' Problem. A French Company Is Cleaning It Up.
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The Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 set in motion the first federal limits on PFAS in drinking water, which would have mandated municipalities to filter out the chemicals. But in May, under the Trump administration, the agency said it is looking to delay or roll back the Biden administration standards. While environmental and health advocates balked at the shift, some industry groups have said postponements—from a 2029 to a 2031 deadline—would help with preparations. The loosening of Biden-era limits on forever chemicals is surprising given that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin previously broke with many Republicans to support a bill that would have reduced the use of PFAS contamination. The EPA aims to unwind limits on four kinds of PFAS, meaning that only those known as PFOA and PFOS would be regulated going forward. Aside from drinking water, PFAS can also be found in a range of consumer products from food packaging to textiles and cosmetics. Research has linked PFAS exposure to a range of health problems, from cancer to low birth weight in newborns. The chemicals get into the water and soil when they are used for manufacturing, or even from firefighting foam at airports, for example. 'PFAS contamination poses a serious threat to public health, and addressing it at the source is essential,' Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer said. The cleaning technology Veolia uses in its water plants depends on the type of PFAS, but the company uses granular activated carbon in large tanks, for example, which is a common treatment method to filter out the chemicals. The Delaware facility has 42 large tanks filled with activated carbon. The PFAS molecules stick to the carbon by grabbing onto tiny crevices that give them a large surface area to attach to. The amount of water flooding into the tanks is monitored to give the molecules enough time to bond. The carbon has to be replaced once it has reached its absorption capacity and then collected by a vendor who can perform a chemical removal process so the carbon could be reused in the tanks. Activated carbon 'is one of the most widely used and effective methods for treating PFAS' said Vasilis Vasiliou, chair of the environmental health sciences department at Yale. But it is 'not a universal solution and has important limitations depending on the PFAS type and treatment goals,' he said. The pros are that it is extensively studied and regulated for drinking water treatment plants, but the cons are that the chemicals are captured rather than broken down, so there is a future contamination risk during disposal. The company worked to make the technology affordable so that communities across the U.S. would be able to invest in it, said Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia's CEO. 'We're not here to be the luxury goods of water treatment,' Brachlianoff said. Public anxiety about PFAS continues to brew as the scale of the problem has come to light. About 45% of tap water contains one or more PFAS, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. Geological Survey, the science arm of the Interior Department. Companies also face a patchwork of state rules to phase out forever chemicals. Recently, Florida and Virginia enacted PFAS cleanup targets for drinking water. And a further wave of states have proposed a variety of drinking water standards for forever chemicals. To complicate matters, the standards of acceptable chemical levels are far from uniform. In Delaware—a state represented by Joe Biden for decades—there is a bill pending that would put water utilities on notice if PFAS exceed certain limits. The water utilities would then have to notify their customers. 'Clean water should be the baseline,' said David Andrews, acting chief science officer at the Environmental Working Group, a consumer research nonprofit, on its website. 'Making water safer begins with ending the unnecessary use of PFAS and holding polluters accountable for cleanup.' The EPA has alluded to holding polluters accountable, but hasn't provided further details at this time. Write to Clara Hudson at
