Today, federal judge Richard Myers ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency’s motion to dismiss Cape Fear River Watch, Clean Cape Fear, and other environmental groups’ lawsuit.
According to a press release, the groups wanted the EPA to conduct human epidemiological studies on Cape Fear residents who were exposed to PFAS over several decades. They also wanted the EPA to test combinations of PFAS chemicals to see if mixing them worsens their health impacts.
The EPA said it had agreed to the petition because it was testing the health effects of individual PFAS, but the nonprofits argued that wasn’t sufficient to determine the impacts for Cape Fear residents.
Myers wrote that the EPA had already granted the nonprofits’ petition, in agreeing to test individual PFAS. He added that the court lacks jurisdiction to review that grant, and so he granted the EPA’s motion to dismiss the case.
A spokesperson for Clean Cape Fear says that this dismissal sets “a dangerous precedent for future EPA administrations to publicly grant citizen TSCA petitions while internally failing to do the work requested.”
The groups are considering an appeal to Myers’ decision.
Editor's note: A previous version of this article included an incorrect quote from Clean Cape Fear. We've corrected that error.
