New Mexico Can’t Order PFAS Cleanups For Now, Air Force Says

New Mexico can’t base a PFAS cleanup order on a federal waste law unless the EPA issues final rules authorizing that, the Department of Justice said in a brief filed Monday.

If two rules the Environmental Protection Agency proposed in February are finalized, they may allow New Mexico’s Environment Department to regulate perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the next Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit it provides to the Air Force, the DOJ said in a brief filed as the Air Force’s legal representative.

Those new rules, however, would not affect a 2018 permit the Air Force opposes ...