On August 20, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted EPA’s fifth unopposed motion (available here) for a 30-day stay extension in ongoing litigation concerning the designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. This request marks the latest in a series of extensions granted by the appellate court since the Trump administration began participating in the litigation in early 2025, including on February 24 (addressed in a prior blog post here), April 30, June 2 (prior post here), and July 11 (prior post here). 

The stated purpose of the continuing stay is to allow EPA leadership additional time to finalize its legal position. Given that the CERCLA listings at issue were approved under the Biden administration, and that EPA’s policies and priorities under the Trump administration are radically different, there is a significant potential that EPA will terminate the litigation by agreeing to withdraw or postpone the listings.