Fifth Circuit Skeptical of PFAS Orders Against Plastics Maker

A federal appeals court panel sounded skeptical of upholding EPA orders requiring a company to stop exposing plastic containers to fluorine gas because of the “forever chemicals” that process causes.

The three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Monday questioned whether EPA had followed the correct path under the Toxic Substances Control Act in issuing the orders against Texas-based Inhance Technologies.

Judge Cory Wilson, a Donald Trump appointee, was particularly skeptical of the EPA claims that the process qualified as a “new use” of a chemical, after Inhance said it had used it for ...