Nicholas Albergo, P.E.

The World Turned Upside Down? PFAS Regulation, Legal Challenges and Cleanup Technology

Nicholas Albergo, P.E., Senior Advisor, GHD Services Limited

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been laser-focused in 2024 regulating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (referred to generally as PFAS).  After years of mounting concern and scientific research on the potential health effects of PFAS, the challenge is clear.  The ubiquitous use of PFAS has resulted in the contamination of water, soil, and the blood of people and animals in the farthest reaches of the world, and its unique design that repels water and oils through its carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest in chemistry.  The situation is complex, with uncertainty surrounding the amount of PFAS in the environment, evolving understanding of health effects and risk assessments, discordant state and federal regulatory efforts, media coverage of PFAS impacts without context, and a lack of public knowledge of PFAS sources and cycling in the environment.  Cleanup will require numerous technologies as there is no universal application.  Worse yet, there is no practical chemical or biological technology currently available in situ that can break down these compounds into their elemental components.  This presentation delves into the state of the regulation, the impacts, and the immensely complicated cleanup efforts the world will face.

Nick Albergo is a Senior Advisor to GHD and was the founder and CEO of HSA Engineers & Scientists, a Florida-based engineering consulting firm that he successfully grew to more than 400 professionals.  The firm was sold to GHD in 2013.  He has had a distinguished career as an inventor and author of over 185 professional publications.  He has been working within the fields of environmental and water resources engineering for over 35 years.  More specifically, he has developed a multidisciplinary forensics and emerging contaminants (PFAS, endocrine-disrupting compounds, analgesics, antibiotics, hormones, and a range of other pharmaceutical compounds) practice with a worldwide reputation for providing insight, advocacy, and remedies to government, public and private clients.