The Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan on Monday to rescind Biden-era drinking water limits on four PFAS compounds and delay implementation of standards for two others. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled the plan at a press conference.

The agency is proposing two separate rules to delay and rescind the drinking water limits. The rules must go through an approval process that can take several years and will likely be challenged in court. The EPA will redo the process to determine if limits should be set for the four PFAS chemicals. The Trump administration alleges that the Biden-era EPA did not follow the correct legal process, moved too quickly in developing the PFAS limits, and that the limits would not survive a court challenge.

"The Trump EPA is committed to Make America Healthy Again by ensuring clean air, land, and water – and by taking on PFAS the right way, across the full life cycle and built to last," Zeldin said. Kennedy, a leader of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which identifies eliminating toxic chemicals from food and water as a cornerstone, rejected characterizations of the plan as a rollback. "I've read articles in the corporate media that say we're trying to roll back PFAS protections, but that's not true," he said.

Dr. Anna Reade, director of PFAS advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, criticized the announcement. "Zeldin and Kennedy are trying to sell potions out of the back of a covered wagon. The millions of Americans demanding safe drinking water are not going to fall for their hocus pocus," Reade said.

In 2024, the EPA under the Biden administration set legally enforceable drinking water limits for six PFAS compounds. The 2024 rules included a 10 parts per trillion limit for any combination of PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO dimer acid, and a variable limit for any combination of PFNA, PFHxS, HFPO dimer acid, and PFBS. Utilities were given until 2031 to comply. In 2022, the agency had set non-enforceable advisory health limits for PFOA at 0.02 parts per trillion and for PFOS at 0.004 parts per trillion. Industry groups opposed the 2024 limits.

EPA officials said in 2024 that the PFAS drinking water limits would reduce exposure for 100 million people and help prevent thousands of illnesses, including fewer birth-weight related infant deaths, kidney cancer deaths, bladder cancer deaths and cardiovascular disease deaths. EPA scientific findings state that no level of exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is safe.

PFAS are a class of at least 16,000 compounds most frequently used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They do not naturally break down in the environment and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and other serious health problems. PFAS are estimated to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200 million people across the United States.