Oregon
PFAS in Cleanup
Oregon PFAS in Cleanup
Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission adopted rules that add six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the definition of hazardous substances in Oregon Administrative Rule 340-122-0115(30), effective September 12, 2025. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) says the rule allows its Cleanup Program to address releases of these chemicals, and to place the costs of testing, treatment and cleanup on the parties responsible for the contamination.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name PFAS records among its standard record sources. The Oregon rule matters because it brings these six chemicals inside the state cleanup program described on the other pages of this section. Six details shape how to use it.
- The page read does not name the six. DEQ's PFAS in Cleanup page gives the rule and its effective date and links its PFAS 2025 Rulemaking page for the documents. Read the rule for the list. Do not assume it matches a federal list: the same page says EPA finalized drinking water standards for six PFAS in 2024 and CERCLA hazardous substance designations for two, PFOS and PFOA.
- They enter the existing process. DEQ says its Cleanup Program will incorporate the six PFAS into existing processes for addressing environmental contamination, such as site investigations, risk assessments and cleanup actions.
- DEQ has said where it is looking. It says the sites now under investigation for PFAS are primarily airports, military installations and municipal fire training areas, and that high levels are generally detected at sites with a history of using aqueous film-forming foam, a firefighting foam for petroleum-based fires.
- More site types are being inventoried. DEQ says the Cleanup Program is evaluating other potential release sites by inventorying certain types of industries and facilities with a known association with PFAS, and will prioritize sites by the likelihood of release and whether people and wildlife living nearby may be affected. DEQ does not name those industries there. In its general description of PFAS, the uses it names include firefighting foam, electronics manufacturing, bulk fuel facilities, chrome-plating and paper manufacturing.
- There is a fact sheet for buyers. DEQ says its PFAS fact sheet explains how the program will prioritize investigation and includes information relevant to regulated parties, potentially responsible parties and prospective purchasers. The fact sheet was not read for this page.
- Drinking water results are another agency's. DEQ points to the Oregon Health Authority for PFAS detected in Oregon's public water systems, from sampling in 2021 to 2023 and from EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule sampling in 2013 to 2015 and 2023 to 2025.
DEQ says PFAS have also been detected in groundwater, surface water, soil, sediment and fish in Oregon, in many cases at amounts exceeding health-based screening levels. For screening levels it links EPA's regional screening level tables. The pages read do not say whether DEQ's own values include PFAS; the Risk-Based Concentrations page gives DEQ's rule, which is to use EPA's value where DEQ has none.
DEQ's page describes two investigations as case studies and gives a cleanup site number for each. They are not summarized here.
Where to look a site up
- The page read gives no list or map of PFAS sites.
- The sites DEQ describes are Cleanup Program sites. Search a site in the Your DEQ Online Public Records Portal; see the Environmental Cleanup Site Information database page.
Getting the file
The page read does not give a records route of its own. DEQ's general route is described on the Your DEQ Online and public records requests page.
Sources
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 7, 2026, no modified date shown: