Maine is one state that has escalated its legislative efforts toward PFAS, and may see consequences going forward.
West said the state put in place legislation where it said the manufacturing of any product containing intentionally added PFAS has to report what chemical it contains, how much, what it is used in and how many units of the products are on the market.
"They moved from where they said you just had to report cookware, to where the entire economy of Maine needs to disclose if there is intentionally added PFAS," he said.
West wasn't sure the people in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) who handle chemicals were consulted by the legislature when the bill was going through.
Originally, the reporting deadline was to begin Jan. 1, 2023, but the legislature since has extended that date to the beginning of 2025. Because of that extension, the rule making has been put on hold for awhile, so he said there may be more legislative fixes to the underlying bill as it moves forward.
But the big thing the ACC sees copycatted in other states is a provision where, if by 2030, the state determines that the use of intentionally added PFAS is avoidable, the product will be banned.
"The (MDEP) has started to signal—which is good—the kinds of functions that it will consider currently unavoidable," West said. "And I look at that list and I see a whole lot of really strong arguments for substances that involved fluoropolymers and fluoroelastomers. So I do see a little hope in this one."