Advocacy

SWANA Calls on Senate to Provide CERCLA Liability Protection for Industry in New Bill

US Senators Tom Carper (D-DE.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released draft per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) legislation for stakeholder comment in June. SWANA joined many other passive receiver organizations asking that the bill include language that would protect landfills and other facilities from liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Absent action by Congress, EPA regulation would replace CERCLA’s “polluter pays” principle with a “community pays” model in which essential public services that passively receive PFAS in providing their respective health services, such as drinking water treatment plants, municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and solid waste landfills and composting facilities, and their customers and ratepayers could be held liable for significant costs associated with the cleanup of contaminated sites.

SWANA has also voiced support for legislation previously introduced by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) that would provide such liability protection. The Resource Management PFAS Liability Protection Act of 2023 provides an exemption for owners and operators of certain resource management facilities from CERCLA liability for releases of PFAS. SWANA also joined 38 other organizations in comments asking EPA Administrator Michael Regan to work closely with Congress to ensure that passive receivers are not unfairly targeted as PFAS is increasingly regulated.