The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving ahead with plans to strike down the nation’s first-ever health standards for chemical contaminants found in the drinking water sources of millions of North Carolinians.
The proposal, announced Monday, comes just shy of the one-year mark from when EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said he would eliminate and reevaluate enforceable standards for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, including the compound branded GenX. The agency also wants to push the deadline in which water utilities must comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS, chemicals that are no longer manufactured, by two years from 2029 to 2031.
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In what it describes as a “comprehensive PFAS strategy,” the agency explains in a five-page release that drinking water systems would be given the option to opt in for the two-year extension, giving them more time to sample source water for contaminants, test new controls, and train their workforce to manage those controls.
The agency states that the proposed rule to rescind current federal standards for HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX, PFNA, PFHxS and PFBS, would follow the letter of the law in establishing regulations for drinking water standards. The Trump administration argues that the Biden administration failed to follow the proper statutory requirements under the Safe Water Drinking Act when it established the drinking water standards for those four chemical compounds.
Under the proposal, the EPA would provide nearly $1 billion in new funding to states to address PFAS in drinking water and another $1 billion through the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program.
“The Biden administration cut corners and failed to follow the law,” Zeldin said in the release. “We are fixing that error with standards water systems can actually implement and that will hold up to scrutiny, while addressing PFOA and PFOS, two the best-studied PFAS with well-documented health impacts.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated in the release that PFAS contamination is “a serious public health challenge that demands rigorous science, clear standards, and practical solutions. Across HHS, we are advancing gold-standard research to better understand PFAS exposure, toxicity, and long-term health impacts on Americans.”
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Critics of the proposed rules immediately hit back, calling the announcement a “PR stunt” to try and shade the more than 100 million people across the country whose drinking water sources have been contaminated by PFAS.
“Zeldin and Kennedy are trying to sell potions out of the back of a covered wagon,” Dr. Anna Reade, Natural Resources Defense Council Director of PFAS Advocacy said in a Monday release. “The millions of Americans demanding safe drinking water are not going to fall for their hocus pocus. By repealing and delaying PFAS standards, EPA is abandoning communities in desperate need of drinking water protections, especially those who live near polluting industries.”
News of the proposed rules particularly smacked the Cape Fear region where residents, environmental organizations and public water providers have banded together to fight for regulations that would put the onus on dischargers to keep PFAS out of drinking water sources.
Almost nine years have passed since the Wilmington StarNews broke the news that Chemours, a DuPont spinoff, had for decades been directly discharging PFAS, including GenX, from its Fayetteville Works facility into the Cape Fear River. GenX is specific to Chemours’ Bladen County plant more than 70 miles upstream from Wilmington.
Today, more than 1,000 residents living near the Cape Fear River Basin are participating in a study where researchers measure the levels of GenX and other PFAS in people’s blood.
PFAS are a group of chemicals used for their ability to repel water, stains and grease to produce a host of consumer goods like food containers, waterproof-gear and makeup.
These chemicals are ubiquitous because they do not naturally break down in the environment.
The EPA now categorizes nearly 15,000 PFAS, an overwhelming majority of which have yet to be studied for their potential effects on human health.
Some of the known human health effects of PFAS include weakened immunity, low birth weight in newborns, thyroid disease, and certain types of cancers.
“Our community was ground zero for the discovery of GenX in public tap water, impacting over half a million water users across ten counties in southeastern North Carolina,” Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donovan stated in a Monday release. “The United Nations Human Rights Council investigated our contamination crisis and publicly named chemical companies like DuPont and Chemours, along with state and federal regulators, for failing to protect us from business-related human rights abuses. We believe today’s announcement perpetuates those abuses. It does not fix our growing PFAS contamination crisis. It stops monitoring it. You don’t cure a fever by breaking the thermometer.”
Related: Public hearings set on proposed wastewater discharge rules
Earlier this month, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission wrapped a series of six public hearings hosted throughout the state on proposed monitoring and minimization rules for discharges of PFOS, PFOA and GenX, and 1,4-dioxane into the state’s surface waters. The EPA classifies 1,4-dioxane, which is primarily used as a solvent in industrial manufacturing, as a likely human-carcinogen.
An overwhelming majority of people who spoke at those hearings argued that the proposed rules would do little to protect drinking water sources because the rules do not set specific discharge limits or penalties for PFAS dischargers found to be in violation of those rules.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is accepting written comments on the proposed rules through June 15. Most of the thousands of written comments already submitted to DEQ concur with those made at the public hearings, according to department officials.
Public water utilities that serve residents in the Cape Fear region have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to treat PFAS from their raw water sources.
The Biden-era PFAS drinking water standards established in 2024 are in litigation in a lawsuit brought by chemical companies and water utility associations. A decision on that case, which is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is not expected before sometime next year.
“By abandoning and delaying enforceable limits on dangerous industrial chemicals like GenX and other PFAS, the agency is putting polluters’ profits over people and sending a clear message that corporate interests matter more than human lives,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney and Water Program Leader Kelly Moser stated in a release. “This reversal is a slap in the face to every community that has fought for clean drinking water. EPA’s decision isn’t grounded in science or law – it’s a political choice that endangers families throughout America.”
The EPA will accept written comments on the proposed rules for 60 days after they are published in the Federal Register. The rules will be published at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2025-1742 and Docket ID” EPA-HQ-OW-2025-9654.
The agency has also scheduled a virtual public hearing for July 7. Those who wish to speak must register online.
Questions related to the public hearing may be directed to PFASNPDWR@epa.gov.
