David Biderman
The federal court of appeals in Washington, D.C. held a January 20, 2026 hearing in the lawsuit over EPA鈥檚 designation of PFAS and PFOS as 鈥渉azardous substances鈥� under the Superfund statute (Chamber of Commerce v EPA, No. 24-1193). If you were expecting a lot of discussion about landfills, leachate, passive receivers, or even the health impacts of PFAS, you would have been severely disappointed.
Instead, most of the hearing focused on procedural issues relating to the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Plaintiffs allege that EPA failed to comply with the APA in this rulemaking, and in particular, EPA鈥檚 failure to quantify the likely costs of complying with the new regulations. One of the three judges on the appeals court panel pushed back at plaintiffs鈥� lawyer, stating 鈥渂y EPA standards, it hangs together pretty well.鈥�
In an article following the hearing, Politico described the judges as 鈥渞eady to back EPA,鈥� and at least one industry insider who attended the hearing thought all three judges were likely to uphold EPA鈥檚 designation of the two PFAS compounds under Superfund. This case is one of a very few number few of legal challenges in which the Trump Administration is defending an EPA rule enacted during the Biden Administration.
The appeals court panel is expected to issue a decision over the next few months. Either party could ask for the full 18-member D.C. Court of Appeals for an 鈥渆n banc鈥� review of that decision, or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
While this case winds its way through the courts, the solid waste industry and other passive receivers such as the wastewater industry continue to urge Congress to amend Superfund to exempt them from liability for PFAS. The solid waste industry and others take the position they did not manufacture or profit from PFAS, and merely passively receive it at their facilities. Landfills receive PFAS in a variety of household goods that end up in the trash, and some of the PFAS ends up in the leachate generated there that is often sent to wastewater treatment facilities for treatment. Congress held two hearings in late Fall 2025 on whether passive receivers should be exempted from liability under Superfund 鈥� one in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and one in the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment. Additional congressional activity is likely in 2026.