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New York State PFAS Update
Effective January 1, 2025, New York’s Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) established a restriction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in apparel applying specifically to apparel with intentionally added PFAS. According to that provision, no person shall sell or offer for sale in New York, any new, not previously used, apparel containing PFAS as intentionally added chemicals after January 1, 2025. After January 1, 2028, a new restriction will go into effect that applies specifically to outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions with intentionally added PFAS, such that no person shall sell or offer for sale in New York any new, not previously used, outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions containing PFAS: (a) at or above a level that the department shall establish in regulation, or (b) as intentionally added chemicals. Under the ECL, PFAS are defined as "a class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom."
With respect to Environmental Remediation Programs, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is in the process of establishing a rural background level of PFAS in soils for purposes of developing soil cleanup objectives (SCOs). In the interim, NYSDEC has proposed Soil Cleanup Guidance values for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) for use in the environmental cleanup context.
NYSDEC’s Division of Water is anticipated to finalize its draft Technical and Operational Guidance Series (TOGS) 1.3.14: "Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) Permitting Strategy for Implementing Guidance Values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane” in 2025. The TOGS 1.3.14 will establish Guidance Values (GVs) for certain PFAS as applied to State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits for POTWs. This guidance is anticipated to have a material impact on industrial wastewater dischargers into POTWs due to the low levels expressed by the GVs for these contaminants. As such, the introduction of any detectable amount of PFOA or PFOS would represent a substantial change in character of the wastewater discharge and would require notice to the NYSDEC. In addition, as part of the regularly required pollutant scan of industrial dischargers that POTWs conduct, the NYSDEC will require influent sampling for all 40 PFAS compounds available through EPA’s Method 1633 and may raise additional concerns for impacted industrial users.
Under NYSDEC jurisdiction for issuance of air pollution control permits and registrations to sources of air pollution, NYSDEC previously published revisions to its DAR-1: Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Ambient Air Contaminants Under Part 212, which established Annual and Short-term Guideline Concentration (AGC/SGC) values for several PFAS in the context of air permitting. According to NYSDEC staff, the DAR-1 will be updated in early 2025 and is anticipated to contain several new additional PFAS. The DAR-1 updates will be developed in consultation with the New York State Department of Health toxicology section to revise and derive the ambient air values based on the latest science available.
