Addition of Certain PFAS to the TRI by the National Defense Authorization Act
Section 7321 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (NDAA) immediately added certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). The NDAA also provided a framework for the addition of other PFAS to TRI on an annual basis.
On this page:
- Updates on implementation
- Key information for Reporting Year 2024
- Key information for Reporting Year 2025
- Separate TSCA section 8(a)(7) PFAS Reporting Rule
- Recently added PFAS
- Background
- Determinations regarding the reporting thresholds
Updates on Implementation
- For Reporting Year 2024 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2025), the NDAA automatically added seven additional PFAS to the TRI list. The addition of these seven PFAS was codified in a final rule in May 2024.
- For Reporting Year 2025 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2026), the NDAA automatically added nine additional PFAS to the TRI list. The addition of these nine PFAS was codified in a final rule in January 2025. Facilities in TRI-covered industry sectors should begin tracking and collecting data on these chemicals during 2025.
- EPA has compiled summaries of existing TRI reporting guidance to address frequently asked questions related to PFAS reporting and gathered links to external technical guidance. Find these resources in GuideME.
- In October 2024, EPA proposed a rule to add 16 individual PFAS and 15 PFAS categories representing over 100 individual PFAS to the TRI and to designate them as chemicals of special concern. EPA also proposed to reclassify some PFAS that were previously added to the TRI individually as part of one of the 15 PFAS categories and to clarify how PFAS are automatically added to the TRI under the NDAA.
Key Information for Reporting Year 2024
- For Reporting Year 2024 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2025), 196 PFAS are reportable.
- Supplier notifications are first required as of the applicable January 1 date for a given chemical’s listing, including PFAS added via NDAA 7321(c).
- TRI reporting requirements for PFAS have recently changed:
- Effective November 30, 2023, (see 88 FR 74360), all PFAS included on the TRI pursuant to section 7321 of the 2020 NDAA are added to the list of Lower Thresholds for Chemicals of Special Concern.
- Starting in Reporting Year 2024, PFAS are designated as “chemicals of special concern.” The de minimis exemption, Form A Certification, and some range reporting are no longer available for TRI reporting of PFAS.
- The de minimis exemption is unavailable for supplier notification purposes (for PFAS and all other chemicals of special concern).
Key Information for Reporting Year 2025
- For Reporting Year 2025, nine PFAS were added to the TRI list as of January 1, 2025 (see Recently Added PFAS, below). 205 PFAS are reportable for Reporting Year 2025 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2026).
- For PFAS added based on triggering activities that occur in 2024, supplier notifications for these nine PFAS are first required as of January 1, 2025.
Separate TSCA section 8(a)(7) PFAS Reporting Rule
- Note that there is a separate reporting requirement on PFAS that begins on July 11, 2025. This separate reporting was promulgated pursuant to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and requires any person that manufactured (including imported) PFAS or PFAS-containing articles, between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2022, to electronically report information regarding PFAS uses, production volumes, disposal, exposures, and hazards. Visit this webpage for more information.
Recently Added PFAS
| CASRN | TRI Chemical Name | Effective Reporting Year | Triggering Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 307-24-4 | Perfluorohexanoic acid | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 422-64-0 | Perfluoropropanoic acid | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 2923-26-4 | Sodium perfluorohexanoate | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 21615-47-4 | Ammonium perfluorohexanoate | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 82113-65-3 | 1,1,1-Trifluoro-N-[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl] methanesulfonamide | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 90076-65-6 | Lithium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl] azanide | 2024 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 2816091-53-7 | Betaines, dimethyl(γ-ω-perfluoro-γ-hydro-C8-18-alkyl) | 2024 | CBI Declassification |
| 377-73-1 | Perfluoro-3-methoxypropanoic acid | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 3108-42-7 | Ammonium perfluorodecanoate (PFDA NH4) | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 3830-45-3 | Sodium perfluorodecanoate (PFDA-Na) | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 27619-97-2 | 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate acid | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 425670-75-3 | 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate anion | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 59587-38-1 | 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate potassium salt | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 59587-39-2 | 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate ammonium salt | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 27619-94-9 | 6:2 Fluorotelomer sulfonate sodium salt | 2025 | Final Toxicity Value |
| 3030471-22-5 | Acetic acid, [(γ-ω-perfluoro-C8-10-alkyl)thio] derivs., Bu esters | 2025 | CBI Declassification |
Background
On December 20, 2019, the NDAA was signed into law (PL 116-92). Among other provisions, section 7321(c) identifies certain regulatory activities that automatically add PFAS or classes of PFAS to the TRI list of reportable chemicals. Specifically, PFAS or classes of PFAS are added to the TRI list of reportable chemicals beginning January 1 of the calendar year after any one of the following dates:
- Final Toxicity Value: The date on which the Administrator finalizes a toxicity value for the PFAS or class of PFAS;
- Significant New Use Rule: The date on which the Administrator makes a covered determination for the PFAS or class of PFAS;
- Addition to Existing Significant New Use Rule: The date on which the PFAS or class of PFAS is added to a list of substances covered by a covered determination;
- Addition as an Active Chemical Substance: The date on which the PFAS or class of PFAS to which a covered determination applies is:
- Added to the list published under section 8(b)(1) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) and designated as an active chemical substance under TSCA section 8(b)(5)(A); or
- Designated as an active chemical substance under TSCA section 8(b)(5)(B) on the list published under TSCA section 8(b)(1).
Under FY 2020 NDAA section 7321(e), EPA must review CBI claims before PFAS with identities subject to a claim of protection from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(a) (pursuant to subsection (b)(4)) are added to the list. Certain substances that met the criteria under FY 2020 NDAA section 7321(c)(1)(A)(iii) but were subject to a claim of protection from disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) at that time, were not added to the list. When these substances’ identities are published on the non-confidential portion of the TSCA Inventory, the chemicals are added to the list.
Determinations Regarding the Reporting Thresholds
PFAS Added to the TRI Chemical List as of December 20, 2019, by the NDAA Section 7321(b)
Section 7321(b)(2) of the NDAA requires EPA to determine within five years of the NDAA’s enactment whether revision of the 100 lb TRI reporting threshold is warranted for PFAS added to the TRI list upon the NDAA’s enactment pursuant to Section 7321(b). If EPA determines a revision is warranted, the Agency must initiate a revision to the threshold pursuant to EPCRA section 313(f)(2), which enables EPA to establish a threshold amount for a TRI-listed chemical to “obtain reporting on a substantial majority of total releases of the chemical at all facilities [subject to TRI reporting requirements for the chemical].” The deadline for this requirement is December 20, 2024, five years following the NDAA’s enactment.
EPA has determined that a revision to the 100 lb threshold established by Congress for PFAS added to TRI under Section 7321(b) is not warranted because, as of December 2024, EPA has yet to receive sufficient data to determine that a revision is warranted.
This decision is informed by the Agency’s recent action to designate PFAS added by Sections 7321(b)(1) and (c)(1) as “chemicals of special concern” (88 FR 74360 (2023)). This designation results in these PFAS being ineligible for the de minimis exemption, which otherwise allows for certain small concentrations of chemicals to be disregarded for TRI threshold determination and reporting purposes. Thus, it is anticipated that reporting on PFAS should increase due to the removal of this exemption.
Additionally, EPA made chemicals designated as “chemicals of special concern” ineligible for the de minimis exemption from TRI’s supplier notification requirements. Thus, PFAS manufacturers (including importers) in certain industry sectors now must provide information on the concentrations of these PFAS to downstream facilities that receive products or mixtures containing these chemicals at any concentration (i.e., even when concentrations of the given PFAS are known to be below 1%). EPA anticipates that this will lead facilities receiving such notifications to submit more PFAS TRI reports to EPA.
The NDAA provided EPA five years from its enactment to determine whether to revise the threshold with regard to PFAS added to TRI upon its enactment. Given that these PFAS are first being reported as chemicals of special concern (and thus are not eligible for the de minimis exemption) in the 2024 reporting year (with data due to EPA in July 2025), EPA anticipates revisiting modifying the reporting threshold after receiving five years’ worth of data as chemicals of special concern. Any future modification would be done pursuant to the Agency’s general authority under Section 313(f)(2) to modify reporting thresholds for TRI-listed chemicals.
As EPA explained when it first modified reporting thresholds for certain TRI chemicals (see 64 FR 688 (1999) and 64 FR 58666 (1999)), the Agency anticipates that obtaining a “substantial reporting” of a majority of total releases, as provided by EPCRA 313(f)(2), would necessitate lowering the reporting threshold for the chemical so more reports are received, which increases reporting on total releases of the chemical. Continued limited reporting of these PFAS may indicate that the reporting threshold should be lowered to obtain reporting on a substantial majority of total releases of these chemicals at all facilities.
Subsequent PFAS Added to the TRI Chemical List by the NDAA Section 7321(c)
Similarly, NDAA section 7321(c)(2) requires that within five years of a PFAS’s inclusion on the TRI list pursuant to section 7321(c)(1), EPA must determine whether revising the reporting threshold for such a chemical is warranted. EPA is to initiate a revision to the applicable threshold pursuant to EPCRA section 313(f)(2) if EPA determines a revision is warranted. The first deadline for such PFAS added pursuant to Section 7321(c)(1) is January 1, 2026. For the reasons discussed above with regard to NDAA Section 7321(b), EPA has determined that a revision to the 100 lb threshold established by Congress for PFAS added to TRI under Section 7321(c) is not warranted, because as of December 2024, EPA has yet to receive sufficient data to determine that a revision is warranted. This determination applies to PFAS added to TRI with an effective date of January 1 for calendar years 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Given that EPA designated these PFAS as chemicals of special concern, in part, to increase what had been considered to be limited reporting, after reviewing TRI data submitted for calendar year 2024, EPA may consider whether a modified reporting threshold may be warranted for PFAS added to TRI pursuant to Section 7321(c)(2), and anticipates revisiting modifying the reporting threshold after it receives 5 years’ worth of data at the current threshold. Any future modification would be done pursuant to the Agency’s general authority under Section 313(f)(2) to modify reporting thresholds for TRI-listed chemicals.
2024 Proposed Rule Pursuant to the NDAA Section 7321(d)
EPA notes that the Agency recently proposed a rule to add PFAS to the TRI list pursuant to NDAA section 7321(d) of the NDAA, as well as to establish category reporting for certain PFAS (89 FR 81776 (2024)). The proposed rule requested comment by December 9, 2024, on what reporting threshold to apply to such PFAS. Information received in response to this proposed rule will help inform future considerations with regard to PFAS added to TRI.