EPA has been granted a fourth abeyance of pending litigation related to the Biden administration’s designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA.
Thus far, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted three of EPA’s unopposed motions to hold related litigation in abeyance: (1) on February 24, 2025 for 60 days (addressed in a prior blog post here); (2) on April 30, 2025 for 30 days; and (3) on June 2, 2025 for 30 days (addressed in a prior blog post here).
Most recently, on July 3, 2025, the D.C. Circuit granted a fourth unopposed motion by EPA (available here), which requested abeyance for an additional 45 days. EPA has reiterated in each of its motions that “EPA’s new leadership is currently still in the process of reviewing the issues presented in this case, evaluating the [CERCLA listing] within the broader context of EPA’s comprehensive strategy to address PFOA and PFOS, and developing EPA’s position on how to proceed in this litigation.” Under this order, the case will be held in abeyance until August 18, 2025.
As previously noted, given the current administration’s deregulatory posture and EPA’s recent actions, it is likely that EPA will rescind or formally reopen the CERCLA listings of PFOA and PFOS and defer any such listings to an unspecified future date.
