Automotive News ‘Daily Drive’ – SPAN Highlights Sustainable, Risk-Based PFAS Management and the Essential Role of PFAS in the Auto Industry and Society

The automotive, battery storage, clean energy, and other critical industries depend on the advanced performance characteristics of PFAS compounds.

Kevin Fay, Executive Director of the Sustainable PFAS Action Network, recently joined Automotive News ‘Daily Drive’ podcast host Jake Neher to discuss the role of PFAS in the automotive industry and effective policy solutions to help ensure the sustainable and responsible management of PFAS compounds critical to the industry.

The automotive industry depends on high-performing PFAS compounds used in engine components such as seals and tubing, automotive sensors for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles, and electric insulators for in-car electronics and cabling. In addition, PFAS compounds are integral to EV battery systems, playing a crucial role in the chemical formulation of sealants and operation by controlling heat to ensure efficient battery performance. The economic impact of this PFAS-reliant industry is sizable – U.S. automotive manufacturing and related activity helps contribute over 2.4 million jobs and $359 billion toward GDP.

"...The reality is the entire 21st-century economy is built on a foundation, in one way or another, of relying on PFAS compounds – for safety, environmental, and health reasons – and those need to be taken into account," said Fay, who went on to provide examples of life-saving medical care reliant on PFAS, such as heart stents and the antiviral used to treat COVID-19, Paxlovid.

Fay highlighted the importance of responsible policy solutions, advocating for a risk-based management approach that considers the persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) properties of substances, as well as their volumes, emissivity, and essential-use applications.

"That's the way to properly categorize the compounds," said Fay. He explained that by targeting the high-risk compounds, finite resources are used where they'll be most effective, achieving the objective as quickly as possible.

The Sustainable PFAS Action Network (SPAN) advocates for a uniform federal approach to PFAS management. While SPAN has been generally supportive of EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, it urges faster action. Fay noted that over 500 pieces of state legislation on PFAS have been introduced since 2016, creating a need for a simplified and cost-effective federal strategy.

“We’re optimistic that in the next two to four years, it will be possible to achieve a good policy outcome. But at the same time, we've been very active at the state level in educating policymakers on the economic issues, and on the importance of responsible management policies.”

Fay offered Maine as an example of policy progress, being the first state to adopt a class-wide ban on PFAS compounds but later revising its law to exempt major industrial uses, including automotive, and cut back on the state reporting program to rely on the federal reporting program.

Fay added, "And so [in Maine] there is starting to be some realization that while we all want to protect the environment and the health of our citizenry, we must do it sensibly, in a way that is understandable, enforceable, and cost-effective."

In closing, Fay affirmed with optimism that we are beginning to see a push towards a risk-based approach and movement towards a uniform federal policy for PFAS management.

"We’re really sensing that a push towards a risk-based and uniform approach is starting to happen, and the dialogue is starting to improve at the federal level. …Bringing everybody to the table and having good information – that is the basis for decision-making. These issues are complicated and take time, but we do think that we have the opportunity, over the next few years, to help to significantly improve both the policy outlook and health and environmental progress for citizens, and the economic progress for the industries involved."