The Environmental Protection Agency will be required to identify and publicly share the sources of PFAS emissions under a new provision announced Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The move comes as PFAS chemical contaminations have been at issue in upstate New York communities in recent years and as policymakers have sought a more active role in monitoring potential issues, especially in drinking water.

Taken together, the rules changes seek to expand regulatory oversight of the chemical, which has been linked to health problems, as well as its variations found in parts of the country. 

Federal environmental regulators will expand current rules to include PFAS under the Toxic Substances Control Act and add variations of the chemical to existing regualtions within two years. The reporting threshold for PFAS by entities that are subject to Toxic Release Inventory will be set at 100 pounds in an effort to draw in a large data set. 

And confidential business information would be protected while PFAS compounds would still be included in PFAS reporting. 

“The EPA’s enforcement of this new law is great news for the countless communities across the country struggling to respond to the human health and environmental threat posed by PFAS contamination. Americans deserve transparency on the PFAS chemicals being released into the environment, and we are now delivering that accountability to combat polluters,” Gillibrand said. “I am proud to have worked with Senator Capito to pass this provision in the NDAA and see it through to implementation. This is a critical next step to ensuring families in New York, West Virginia, and across the country aren’t exposed to dangerous levels of PFAS in their drinking water and communities.”