Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5539 To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to review and develop effluent standards, pretreatment standards, and water quality criteria for PFAS under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, to provide Federal grants to publicly owned treatment works to implement standards, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2020 Mr. PAPPAS (for himself, Mr. DELGADO, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. NEAL, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans- portation and Infrastructure A BILL To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency to review and develop effluent standards, pretreatment standards, and water quality criteria for PFAS under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, to provide Federal grants to publicly owned treatment works to implement standards, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5539 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clean Water Standards 2 for PFAS Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. CLEAN WATER ACT EFFLUENT STANDARDS, 4 PRETREATMENT STANDARDS, AND WATER 5 QUALITY CRITERIA FOR PFAS. 6 (a) REVIEW AND REGULATION OF SUBSTANCES AND 7 SOURCES.— 8 (1) REVIEW.— 9 (A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable, 10 but not later than September 30, 2021, and bi- 11 ennially thereafter, the Administrator shall pub- 12 lish in the Federal Register a plan under sub- 13 section (m) of section 304 of the Federal Water 14 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314) that 15 contains the results of a review, conducted in 16 accordance with such section, of the introduc- 17 tion or discharge of perfluoroalkyl and 18 polyfluoroalkyl substances from classes and cat- 19 egories of point sources (other than publicly 20 owned treatment works). 21 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The Administrator shall 22 include in each plan published pursuant to sub- 23 paragraph (A)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5539 IH (i) information on potential introduc- 1 tion or discharges of perfluoroalkyl and 2 polyfluoroalkyl substances; 3 (ii) any information gaps on such in- 4 troduction or discharges and the process 5 by which the Administrator will address 6 such gaps; 7 (iii) for each measurable 8 perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl sub- 9 stance that is not on the list of toxic pol- 10 lutants described in section 307(a) of the 11 Federal Water Pollution Control Act, a de- 12 termination, in accordance with the re- 13 quirements of such section, whether or not 14 to add the substance to such list; and 15 (iv) a determination, in accordance 16 with the requirements of the Federal 17 Water Pollution Control Act, whether or 18 not to establish effluent limitations and 19 pretreatment standards for the introduc- 20 tion or discharge of each substance de- 21 scribed in clause (iii) that the Adminis- 22 trator determines under such clause not to 23 add to such list and for which the Admin- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5539 IH istrator has not developed such limitations 1 or standards. 2 (2) REGULATION.—Based on the results of 3 each review conducted under paragraph (1) and in 4 accordance with the requirements of the Federal 5 Water Pollution Control Act, the Administrator 6 shall— 7 (A) in accordance with the plan published 8 under paragraph (1), as soon as practicable— 9 (i) for each measurable perfluoroalkyl 10 and polyfluoroalkyl substance that the Ad- 11 ministrator determines under paragraph 12 (1)(B)(iii) to add to the list of toxic pollut- 13 ants described in section 307(a) of such 14 Act, initiate the process for adding the 15 substance to such list; and 16 (ii) for each measurable perfluoroalkyl 17 and polyfluoroalkyl substance that the Ad- 18 ministrator determines under paragraph 19 (1)(B)(iv) to establish effluent limitations 20 and pretreatment standards, establish such 21 effluent limitations and pretreatment 22 standards (which limitations and standards 23 may be established by substance or by 24 class or category of substances); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5539 IH (B) not later than 1 year after the date on 1 which each plan is published under paragraph 2 (1), publish human health water quality criteria 3 for measurable perfluoroalkyl and 4 polyfluoroalkyl substances and classes and cat- 5 egories of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl 6 substances for which the Administrator has not 7 published such criteria. 8 (b) DEADLINES FOR COVERED PERFLUOROALKYL 9 SUBSTANCES.— 10 (1) WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.—Not later than 11 2 years after the date of enactment of this section, 12 the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Reg- 13 ister human health water quality criteria for each 14 covered perfluoroalkyl substance. 15 (2) EFFLUENT LIMITATIONS AND 16 PRETREATMENT STANDARDS FOR PRIORITY INDUS- 17 TRY CATEGORIES.—As soon as practicable, but not 18 later than 4 years after the date of enactment of 19 this section, the Administrator shall publish in the 20 Federal Register a final rule establishing, for each 21 priority industry category, effluent limitations and 22 pretreatment standards for the introduction or dis- 23 charge of each covered perfluoroalkyl substance. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5539 IH (c) NOTIFICATION.—The Administrator shall notify 1 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 2 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Envi- 3 ronment and Public Works of the Senate of each publica- 4 tion made under this section. 5 (d) IMPLEMENTATION ASSISTANCE FOR PUBLICLY 6 OWNED TREATMENT WORKS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 8 award grants, in amounts not to exceed $100,000, 9 to owners and operators of publicly owned treatment 10 works, to be used for the implementation of a 11 pretreatment standard developed by the Adminis- 12 trator for a perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl sub- 13 stance. 14 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 15 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Ad- 16 ministrator to carry out this subsection 17 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 18 2025, to remain available until expended. 19 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 20 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 21 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 22 mental Protection Agency. 23 (2) COVERED PERFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCE.— 24 The term ‘‘covered perfluoroalkyl substance’’ means 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5539 IH perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, 1 or a salt associated with perfluorooctanoic acid or 2 perfluorooctane sulfonic acid. 3 (3) EFFLUENT LIMITATION.—The term ‘‘efflu- 4 ent limitation’’ means an effluent limitation under 5 section 301(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Con- 6 trol Act (33 U.S.C. 1311). 7 (4) INTRODUCTION.—The term ‘‘introduction’’ 8 means the introduction of pollutants into treatment 9 works, as described in section 307(b) of the Federal 10 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1317). 11 (5) MEASURABLE.—The term ‘‘measurable’’ 12 means, with respect to a chemical substance or class 13 or category of chemical substances, capable of being 14 measured using— 15 (A) test procedures established under sec- 16 tion 304(h) of the Federal Water Pollution 17 Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314); or 18 (B) any other analytical method developed 19 by the Administrator. 20 (6) PRETREATMENT STANDARD.—The term 21 ‘‘pretreatment standard’’ means a pretreatment 22 standard under section 307(b) of the Federal Water 23 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1317). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5539 IH (7) PRIORITY INDUSTRY CATEGORY.—The term 1 ‘‘priority industry category’’ means the following 2 point source categories: 3 (A) Organic chemicals, plastics, and syn- 4 thetic fibers, as identified in part 414 of title 5 40, Code of Federal Regulations. 6 (B) Pulp, paper, and paperboard, as iden- 7 tified in part 430 of title 40, Code of Federal 8 Regulations. 9 (C) Textile mills, as identified in part 410 10 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations. 11 (8) TREATMENT WORKS.—The term ‘‘treatment 12 works’’ has the meaning given that term in section 13 212 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 14 U.S.C. 1292). 15 (9) WATER QUALITY CRITERIA.—The term 16 ‘‘water quality criteria’’ means criteria for water 17 quality under section 304(a)(1) of the Federal 18 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1314). 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:05 Jan 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5539.IH H5539 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS