On Jan. 3, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the automatic addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the list of chemicals covered by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

TRI data is reported to EPA annually by facilities in designated industry sectors and federal facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use TRI-listed chemicals above set quantities. The data include quantities of such chemicals that were released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste.

Information collected through TRI allows communities to learn how facilities in their area are managing listed chemicals. The data collected is available online and helps to support informed decision-making by companies, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the public.

These nine PFAS were added to the TRI list pursuant to the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides the framework for the automatic addition of PFAS to TRI each year in response to specified EPA activities involving such PFAS. For TRI Reporting Year 2025 (reporting forms due by July 1, 2026), reporting is required for these nine additional PFAS, bringing the total PFAS subject to TRI reporting to 205.

These nine newly added PFAS, along with the previous 196 TRI-listed PFAS, are also subject to EPA’s action in October 2023 to classify all PFAS subject to TRI reporting as chemicals of special concern. Among other impacts, this removes the use of a reporting exemption that allowed facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals were used in small concentrations.