Skip to main content

Nixon Peabody LLP

  • People
  • Capabilities
  • Insights
  • About
Trending Topics
    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni
    Practices

    View All

    • Affordable Housing
    • Community Development Finance
    • Corporate & Finance
    • Cybersecurity & Privacy
    • Entertainment & Media
    • Environmental
    • Franchising & Distribution
    • Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
    • Healthcare
    • Intellectual Property
    • International Services
    • Labor, Employment, and Benefits
    • Litigation
    • Private Wealth & Advisory
    • Project Finance
    • Public Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Regulatory & Government Relations
    Industries

    View All

    • Aviation
    • Cannabis
    • Consumer
    • Energy
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Higher Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Manufacturing
    • Nonprofit Organizations
    • Real Estate
    • Sports & Stadiums
    • Technology
    Value-Added Services

    View All

    • Alternative Fee Arrangements

      Developing innovative pricing structures and alternative fee agreement models that deliver additional value for our clients.

    • Continuing Education

      Advancing professional knowledge and offering credits for attorneys, staff and other professionals.

    • Crisis Advisory

      Helping clients respond correctly when a crisis occurs.

    • DEI Strategic Services

      Providing our clients with legal, strategic, and practical advice to make transformational changes in their organizations.

    • eDiscovery

      Leveraging law and technology to deliver sound solutions.

    • Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

      We help clients create positive return on investments in people, products, and the planet.

    • Global Services

      Delivering seamless service through partnerships across the globe.

    • Innovation

      Leveraging leading-edge technology to guide change and create seamless, collaborative experiences for clients and attorneys.

    • IPED

      Industry-leading conferences focused on affordable housing, tax credits, and more.

    • Legal Project Management

      Providing actionable information to support strategic decision-making.

    • Legally Green

      Teaming with clients to advance sustainable projects, mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect our planet.

    • Nixon Peabody Trust Company

      Offering a range of investment management and fiduciary services.

    • NP Capital Connector

      Bringing together companies and investors for tomorrow’s new deals.

    • NP Second Opinion

      Offering fresh insights on cases that are delayed, over budget, or off-target from the desired resolution.

    • NP Trial

      Courtroom-ready lawyers who can resolve disputes early on clients’ terms or prevail at trial before a judge or jury.

    • Social Impact

      Creating positive impact in our communities through increasing equity, access, and opportunity.

    • Women in Dealmaking

      We provide strategic counsel on complex corporate transactions and unite dynamic women in the dealmaking arena.

    1. Home
    2. Insights
    3. Alerts
    4. NY takes important next step in regulation of emerging contaminants

      Alerts

    Alert / Environmental

    NY takes important next step in regulation of emerging contaminants

    Nov 9, 2021

    LinkedInX (Twitter)EmailCopy URL

    By Dana Stanton

    NYSDEC’s recently proposed guidance may have significant implications for industrial facilities discharging PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane under a SPDES permit (and others).

    What’s the Impact?

    • The proposed new guidance would establish human health-based guidance values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane and could bring changes to wastewater discharge limits and, potentially impact how those substances are addressed at Superfund and brownfield sites
    • NYSDEC is accepting comments on the proposed guidance until December 6, 2021

    DOWNLOAD

    NY regulation of emerging contaminants (PDF)

    The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) recently proposed a series of new and revised guidance documents to address the discharge of certain emerging contaminants to the state’s ground and surface water. The guidance—which addresses perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS and collectively with PFOA, PFAS), and 1,4-Dioxane—may have significant implications for facilities that discharge these pollutants pursuant to a State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit.

     With the recent announcement, NYSDEC is proposing to update Technical Operational Guidance Series (TOGS) 1.1.1, Ambient Water Quality Standards and Guidance Values and Groundwater Effluent Limitations to add human health-based guidance values for the three chemicals as follows: PFOA, 6.7 parts per trillion (ppt); PFOS, 2.7 ppt; and 1,4-Dioxane, 0.35 parts per billion (ppb). Those guidance values will be used by NYSDEC to set effluent limits for facilities that discharge these contaminants to ground or surface water under a SPDES permit. The proposed guidance values are based on the New York State Department of Health’s (NYSDOH’s) adoption of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for finished drinking water of 10 ppt for PFOA and PFOS and 1 ppb for 1,4-Dioxane. According to NYSDEC, the proposed guidance values were set below the NYSDOH’s MCLs to provide “an extra margin of safety.” The revisions to TOGS 1.1.1 were accompanied by changes to TOGS 1.3.7, Analytical Detectability and Quantitation Guidelines for Environmental Parameters, which guides the selection of analytical testing methods in situations where approved monitoring methods are limited or unavailable, as in the case of emerging contaminants such as PFAS.

    To ensure effective implementation of the new guidance values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane, NYSDEC also is proposing new TOGS 1.3.13, Permitting Strategy for Implementing Guidance Values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane. This new publication focuses on facilities in specified Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes considered potential sources of wastewater discharges containing one or more of the three chemicals. Existing facilities in the listed SIC codes will be asked to supply information about their use and discharge of these chemicals to NYSDEC, which will then decide whether there is cause to modify the facility’s SPDES permit. The results of the information request may also be used to adjust the facility’s priority ranking under NYSDEC’s Environmental Benefits Permit Strategy (EBPS)—the system used by NYSDEC to prioritize existing SPDES permits for full technical review.[1]

    NYSDEC’s draft guidance follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) announcement in late 2020 of its interim strategy to address PFAS under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. Pursuant to this strategy, EPA advised its permit writers to require PFAS monitoring in wastewater at regulated facilities where such chemicals may be present in wastewater discharges for both new and renewed permits. The strategy also contemplates the use of best management practices, where appropriate, to prevent, control, or abate the discharge of PFAS. Although EPA directly oversees the NPDES permit program in only a few states and other jurisdictions, this draft EPA guidance reflects a concern—shared by both EPA and NYSDEC—about the potential impact of PFAS chemicals on surface waters.

    Going forward, if NYSDEC finalizes the new/revised guidance similar to its proposal, businesses in the SIC codes listed in TOGS 1.3.13 that discharge wastewater pursuant to a SPDES permit will be expected to provide NYSDEC with information about their use and discharge of PFOA, PFOS, and/or 1,4-Dioxane and may eventually be subject to strict discharge limits for these pollutants.

    The guidance values established by NYSDEC are likely to have impacts beyond just the renewal of certain SPDES permits. Once those values are finalized, it is likely that NYSDEC will also use them to develop official “standards, criteria, and guidance” that must be considered when developing remedial goals under the state’s Brownfield or state Superfund programs. Accordingly, responsible parties at cleanup sites where PFAS are present should also be monitoring this development very closely.

    NYSDEC is accepting comments on the draft new/revised TOGS until December 6, 2021. The draft TOGS are accompanied by a series of fact sheets explaining the scientific basis for the guidance values.


    1. If you have a SPDES Permit and do not know what its current EBPS score is, you can check the current EBPS list.
      [Back to reference]

    Locations

    New York CityLong IslandRochesterAlbany

    Practices

    EnvironmentalWater & Wastewater Management

    Insights And Happenings

    • Alert

      EPA proposes approval of the update to the national standard for Phase I Environmental Site Assessments

      March 29, 2022
    • Alert

      New York takes important next step in the regulation of greenhouse gasses

      Jan 10, 2022
    • Alert

      The intersection of cannabis and wine buds environmental complication

      Nov 2, 2021
    The foregoing has been prepared for the general information of clients and friends of the firm. It is not meant to provide legal advice with respect to any specific matter and should not be acted upon without professional counsel. If you have any questions or require any further information regarding these or other related matters, please contact your regular Nixon Peabody LLP representative. This material may be considered advertising under certain rules of professional conduct.

    Subscribe to stay informed of the latest legal news, alerts, and business trends.Subscribe

    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni
    • Cookie Preferences
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Statement of Client Rights
    • Purchase Order Terms & Conditions
    • Nixon Peabody International LLC
    • PAL
    © 2025 Nixon Peabody. All rights reserved