Forever Chemicals, Now Forever Liability: PFOA/PFOS, CERCLA, and Georgia

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On August 18, 2026, the D.C. Circuit denied every petition challenging EPA’s rule designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. EPA, No. 24-1193 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 18, 2026). The designation is now firmly in place, and the questions facing Georgia lawyers have shifted from whether it survives to what it does.

Quite a lot, and much of it outside Superfund practice. A one-pound reportable quantity now runs through CERCLA § 103, EPCRA § 304, and into the federal hazardous materials transportation rules. Completed cleanups with signed covenants not to sue may be reopened. Five-year reviews may look different. Due diligence assumptions written into deals two years ago may be questioned. And that's not to mention state law ramifications, including under Georgia's Brownfield Act, Hazardous Site Response Act, Voluntary Remediation Program Act, and various permitting regimes.

Join a federal Magistrate Judge, a leading environmental law scholar and litigator, the Georgia EPD official leading the Division’s PFAS work, and a practitioner currently litigating a CERCLA PFAS case for one focused hour on what changed and what lawyers need to know about it. A reception follows.

In-person and live-streamed. One hour of Georgia General CLE credit available (applied for) for in-person attendees only.

Co-sponsored by the FBA Atlanta Chapter and the FBA Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Division.