FSSA has filed petitions in Maine and Minnesota, seeking a Currently Unavoidable Use (CUU) exemption from the Maine PFAS law and the Minnesota PFAS law that seek to regulate products containing “intentionally added PFAS.”  These laws define PFAS so broadly they would encompass certain clean agent fire suppressant agents, including HFC-227ea, FK-5-1-12 and HFC-125.

Copies of the FSSA petitions are linked below.

The CUU-exemption means a use of PFAS that the state has determined to be essential for health, safety, or the functioning of society and for which alternatives are not reasonably available – and is thus exempt from the state’s law.  To summarize the Maine and Minnesota laws:

Maine 38 MRSA §1612 - Effective January 1, 2030, bans the sale of fire suppressant agents that contain any PFAS (same definition as MN), unless a CUU for the agent has been granted. Manufacturers have some reporting requirements that are now in effect absent a waiver/extension.

Minn. Stat. §116.943 – No ban on the sale of any fire suppression agents or systems that contain any PFAS, defined as: “perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, including any class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.”  Effective January 1, 2026, manufacturers of PFAS-containing products sold into the state will have to file reports with the state Pollution Control Agency.

No timetable is available yet on each state’s consideration of the FSSA petitions.

DOWNLOAD THE MAINE PETITION

DOWNLOAD THE MINNESOTA PETITION