Schumer urges EPA's Zeldin to keep limits on forever chemicals in drinking water

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday called for EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to take new steps to protect Long Island drinking water from forever chemicals as the agency proposes rollbacks on regulations enacted during the Biden administration.

Citing Zeldin’s former stances on a bipartisan congressional task force on forever chemicals, Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency chief pointed to 11 instances of PFAS compounds infiltrating water systems across Long Island, including those that are restricted under the 2024 regulation, compliance for which is mandated for 2029. Recent sites impacted by PFAS compounds, he noted, include groundwater around a battery plant in East Hampton.

If the latest forever-chemical rules proposed by the EPA go through, Schumer wrote, “four toxic chemicals lose their federal limits, and no water system has to test for them or remove them, even though multiple water sources are over the limit right now,” notably on Long Island.

“At your confirmation hearing you told the Senate that you had been a member of the PFAS task force, that you had voted for the PFAS Action Act, and that addressing PFAS would be a top priority of yours. The proposals now before the agency move in the other direction,” Schumer wrote in a letter on Tuesday.

The senator is taking particular issue with the EPA’s decision earlier this year to rescind the 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and the Hazard Index mixtures enacted during the Biden administration. 

The EPA has said its proposed rollback of the standard is needed “to correct the unlawful procedure under which regulations for these PFAS were promulgated.”

But Zeldin’s EPA has proposed other PFAS rollbacks. In May of 2025, the EPA announced a separate plan to extend the compliance deadlines for PFOA and PFOS compounds, establishing what it called a “federal exemption framework.” The agency said it is “currently proposing a separate rulemaking to extend the compliance deadline for PFOA and PFOS.”

Schumer in his letter noted that water systems on Long Island have largely taken matters into their own hands, at some expense.

A number of Long Island water districts and municipalities, such as Locust Valley, Manhasset-Lakeville, and the Suffolk County Water Authority, have each detected one of the compounds that this proposal would deregulate above the federal limit.

The Suffolk County Water Authority said the rollback won’t impact its work addressing the toxins, already in place.

"Last year, SCWA announced that it is in full compliance with the federal regulations for PFAS—years ahead of the deadline,” authority spokesman Daniel Dubois said in a statement. “Our goal is to treat all water we deliver to our customers to non-detectable levels. Regardless of any changes in Washington, that will not change."

Schumer's letter notes that Locust Valley and the Liberty Utilities district in Lynbrook “exceed the Hazard Index for PFHxS and PFNA combined, the precise standard this rulemaking would eliminate.”

He noted the chemicals also have contaminated wells in Hampton Bays and Westhampton Beach. “Long-term exposure, even in small amounts, raises the risk of prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers and of developmental problems in infants and children,” Schumer said.

More recently, he noted, New York State and Suffolk County have begun investigations into groundwater contamination in East Hampton and Southold after forever chemicals were found at dangerously high levels.

Newsday has reported on both findings, including the toxin, PFPrA, near the site of a battery plant that experienced a fire in 2023, and elevated forever chemicals found at the Southold Transfer Station, at the site of a former landfill.

In a statement to Newsday Monday, Schumer said Long Islanders impacted by the contamination need action, not rollbacks. “We need testing, we need answers, we need effective action to protect public health, and we need them fast,” he said.

The National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, is on record opposing the EPA rollbacks.

"By repealing and delaying PFAS standards, EPA is abandoning communities in desperate need of drinking water protections, especially those who live near polluting industries,” said Anna Reade, director of PFAS Advocacy at NRDC, earlier this year.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.