Inside Lobbyist Efforts to Gut Federal ‘Forever Chemical’ Regulations

More than 500 pages of emails, internal presentations and talking points obtained by NOTUS detail lobbying efforts around the EPA’s decision to walk back standards.

EPA signage

Signage for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Mark Alfred/NOTUS

Last April, Jessica Kramer of the Environmental Protection Agency told water utility lobbyists gathered in Washington that clean-water issues remained a top agency priority — despite a chaotic start to President Donald Trump’s second term that included budget and job cuts.

Speaking at a “Water Week” event on April 8, Kramer emphasized the EPA’s desire to work with water utilities to clean up “forever chemicals,” the virtually indestructible microscopic substances infiltrating Americans’ drinking water, and making “polluters pay” to cover the costs.

But industries that have historically produced those “forever chemicals” had significant concerns.