A federal appeals court Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s bid to pull back Biden-era drinking water limits for four toxic “forever chemicals.”
In a short order, the three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously denied the administration’s request for a partial vacatur of the 2024 Biden-era PFAS drinking water rule.
“The merits of the parties’ positions are not so clear as to warrant summary action,” the order states.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last year issued a split decision regarding the aggressive drinking water limits issued by the Biden administration for six PFAS: The agency would defend the extremely low limits for the two most notorious chemicals — PFOA and PFOS — while seeking to pull back the limits for four other chemicals, which Zeldin said the Biden administration had made procedural missteps in issuing.
