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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Environmental

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, March 4, 2025

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will address the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) multi-year rulemaking efforts aiming to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater discharges by revising effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) and pretreatment standards. The panel will provide guidance for businesses regarding the EPA's current actions in this area and identify and mitigate potential risks associated with PFAS in operations.

Faculty

Brittany Barrientos
Partner
Stinson LLP

Ms. Barrientos has significant experience assisting clients with environmental, health, and safety regulatory requirements arising under the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, solid and hazardous waste laws, Superfund, OSHA and PHMSA, as well as state and local environmental laws and regulations. She has worked extensively with municipalities and electric-generating utilities, mobile sources, and clients in the chemical, manufacturing and real estate industries. Ms. Barrientos’ journalism background and endless curiosity also serve her well as she navigates FOIA issues, inspections and information requests, and investigations across sectors. 

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Daron Ravenborg
Attorney
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Mr. Ravenborg is an associate in the firm’s Energy, Environment, and Infrastructure practice. Prior to joining BCLP, he worked as an Attorney Advisor at the Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco, focusing on enforcement and counseling cases under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act. Daron settled numerous cases with complex injunctive relief, including with the largest municipal wastewater treatment plant west of the Mississippi River, and several other industrial facilities throughout California, Hawaii, Arizona, and the Territory of Guam. On the counseling side, Mr. Ravenborg primarily worked on underground injection control permits, including several Class I non-hazardous and Class VI carbon sequestration permits. Before joining the EPA, he served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel at the New York City Law Department where he would handle Section 1983 cases from complaint to trial. In addition to securing two complete defense verdicts at trial, Mr. Ravenborg filed multiple motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions to compel, and participated in extensive discovery.

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Description

The Clean Water Act requires the EPA to biennially publish a plan for new and revised ELGs. On Jan. 31, 2023, the EPA released the Final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan (Plan 15). In Plan 15, EPA outlined plans to expand the detailed study of PFAS in wastewater discharges from landfills and textile and carpet mills.

On Dec. 16, 2024, EPA released its Preliminary Effluent Limitation Guidelines Plan 16 (Plan 16). The plan includes new studies, data collection efforts, and updates on rulemakings for ELGs and pretreatment standards for PFAs and other contaminants. Plan 16 also continues to focus on and evaluate the extent and nature of PFAS discharges and assess opportunities for limiting those discharges from multiple industrial categories, including battery manufacturing, centralized waste treatment, and onshore oil and gas extraction. Plan 16 also signals the EPA's intent to initiate new detailed studies of PFAS processors.

Industrial discharges of PFAS have occurred at thousands of industrial sites known or suspected to use or produce PFAS. Impacts have been noted in places like the Cape Fear River Basin, N.C., Parkersburg, W. Va., Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and Belmont, Mich. In the Midwest and the South, the application of biosolids as fertilizer has also come under scrutiny. Similar issues are likely to arise across the United States.

EPA has been committed to addressing and ultimately limiting PFAS in industrial wastewater discharges. It is also expected that more industries will be subject to revised regulations by EPA in the future. With the continued focus on PFAS, businesses should continue to follow EPA's information-gathering and rulemaking activities in this area and identify and mitigate potential risks associated with PFAS in their operations moving forward.

Listen as our expert panel discusses the rules, the status of current studies on PFAS in wastewater, current litigation trends, and how industries can identify potential risks with PFAS to meet future compliance standards.

Outline

  1. PFAS prior regulations
  2. Final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15
  3. Preliminary Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 16
  4. Multi-industry PFAS study and EPA's PFAS Strategic Roadmap
  5. Affected industries
  6. Future regulation

Benefits

The panel will discuss these and other key topics:

  • What are the limitations on PFAS in Plan 15?
  • What industries are most impacted by these rules? What industries are most likely to be regulated in the future?
  • What are the PFAS focus areas in Plan 16?
  • How can industry prepare for future regulation of PFAS in wastewater?