The Environmental Transformation Podcast with Sean Grady

The U.S. drinking water MCLs for PFAS remain in effect, but court challenges, proposed deadline extensions, and regulatory uncertainty have left public water systems in a difficult position. Taryn McKnight, VP and PFAS Practice Leader for Eurofins Environment Testing, breaks down the current state of PFAS regulation in the United States, including the legal battles over EPA's drinking water standards, the CERCLA hazardous substance designation, and why the proposed rollback of certain PFAS compounds may be less consequential than headlines suggest.
Recorded at the Battelle Chlorinated Conference in Dallas-Fort Worth, McKnight and host Sean Grady examine why utilities are caught between monitoring requirements and investment decisions, how biosolids have emerged as a primary concern for state agencies, and what the UCMR5 occurrence data actually shows about which compounds warranted a national primary drinking water regulation. They also discuss the passive receiver problem under CERCLA, congressional efforts to address it, and why legislation has stalled year after year.
The conversation also covers the growing public interest in biomonitoring, Eurofins' direct-to-consumer blood testing kits for PFAS exposure, the role of citizen science in building population-level data, and what it would take for microplastics to move from EPA's Contaminant Candidate List to a monitored contaminant under UCMR6.
Learn more about Eurofins Environment Testing's PFAS services at eurofinsus.com/pfas.
Visit Sean Grady at seankgrady.com to subscribe to the newsletter and support the show.
#PFAS #DrinkingWaterRegulation #EnvironmentalPodcast
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction and Conference Setting
2:02 Status of PFAS Drinking Water Regulations
4:10 EPA's Proposal to Extend the 2029 Compliance Deadline
5:45 Safe Drinking Water Act No-Backsliding Provision
7:10 UCMR5 Data and the Case for Rescinding Four Compounds
9:20 Biosolids and Wastewater as State-Level Priorities
11:05 State Responses to PFAS Regulation
12:15 CERCLA Hazardous Substance Designation Challenges
13:45 Passive Receivers and Congressional Action
17:30 Sponsor Messages
20:05 Biomonitoring and Public Awareness of PFAS
21:40 Eurofins Blood Testing Kits and Citizen Science
22:50 PFAS and the Evolution of Laboratory Testing
26:10 Robert Bilott, Dark Waters, and Advocacy Impact
30:45 Battelle Conference and What Comes Next
31:20 Microplastics, CCL6, and the Path to UCMR6
34:20 Closing Thoughts and How to Reach Eurofins
Thanks to our Sponsors: Cascade Environmental, E-Tank, and WASTELINQ

Battelle's Chlorinated Conference draws 1,500 environmental professionals from 23 countries, and its division manager explains why PFAS treatment is pushing the industry to its limits.
Joe Tarsavage, Division Manager of Environmental Solutions at Battelle, discusses the 30-year history of the Chlorinated Conference, how PFAS contamination has reset treatment standards from two nines to five or six nines of removal, and why that gap is driving rapid innovation across the remediation sector. He also addresses how artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape site investigation, data analysis, and client reporting, and why the industry is only scratching the surface of what that technology can do.
Tarsavage details Battelle's expanding conference portfolio, including the upcoming Sediments Conference in Austin in January 2027 and the newly rebranded Battelle Bloom Conference in June 2027, which will broaden the traditional bioremediation platform to include critical minerals and land optimization. He also touches on emerging contaminants now appearing on EPA's CCL 6 list, including microplastics and 6PPD-quinone, and what it will take for laboratories and researchers to develop reliable analytical methods for those compounds.
The conversation also covers Battelle's student mentoring program, the value of deliberate mentorship in a field where it no longer happens organically, and what Tarsavage is asking conference participants to help shape for future events.
#Battelle #PFAS #EnvironmentalConsulting #remediation #technology

CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction and Joe Tarsavage's Role at Battelle
0:58 History and Growth of the Chlorinated Conference
2:55 PFAS as the Dominant Industry Topic
5:00 Building the Conference Platform and Steering Committee
6:05 AI and Digital Technology in Environmental Work
8:50 How Reporting Timelines Have Changed Over 30 Years
9:45 Poster Sessions, Student Competition, and Mentoring
12:45 What Has Changed Most Over the Conference's 30 Years
14:45 Vapor Intrusion, PFAS, and Evolving Regulations
16:30 PFAS Treatment Challenges and Innovation
17:50 Where Battelle and the Conference Are Headed Next
19:35 Emerging Contaminants: Microplastics and 6PPD-Quinone
21:15 Battelle's Role in Methods Development
22:00 Conference Venue Plans and Future Locations
23:45 The Value of Networking at Industry Conferences
25:30 Closing RemarksReply

Forty percent of prospects never make a buying decision, and the reason is rarely the competition. Rohail Khan, founder of Avant.AI and executive consultant for Corporate Visions, breaks down why the status quo is the most dangerous competitor in any sales cycle and how to defeat it.

Khan draws on 25 years as a C-suite executive, including roles at Xerox and Bank of America, to explain what CEOs and CFOs actually pay attention to during a pitch and why most sales teams lose the room within the first five minutes. The conversation covers how to use earnings call transcripts to find unconsidered risks, how to escape the commodity trap by shifting from features to financial outcomes, and why "you phrasing" transfers ownership to the buyer in ways that change the entire power dynamic of a pitch.

Host Sean Grady also gets into Daniel Kahneman's prospect theory, the EBITDA pivot, the value wedge, and the three deadly sins of sales messaging. Khan offers specific AI prompt strategies using tools like Perplexity and Gemini to surface insights that clients do not yet know they need.
Whether you manage large accounts, prepare executive proposals, or are trying to break through to the C-suite for the first time, this conversation delivers a concrete framework for turning uncertainty into urgency.

Learn more about Corporate Visions at corporatevisions.com. Visit Sean Grady's website at seankgrady.com to sign up for the newsletter.
#SalesPodcast #CSuiteStrategy #EnvironmentalTransformation

TAGS:
Rohail Khan, Avant AI, Corporate Visions sales training, C-suite selling, executive sales strategy, no decision sales, EBITDA pivot, value wedge, prospect theory, Daniel Kahneman loss aversion, B2B sales podcast, sales training podcast, closing deals, unconsidered needs, sales messaging, commodity trap, Environmental Transformation Podcast
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction and Rohail Khan's Background
2:55 The Elevator Pitch and C-Suite Preparation
8:00 Understanding the CEO, CFO, and COO Mindset
11:30 Using Earnings Calls for Sales Research
15:55 Sponsor Messages
16:40 Why No Decision Is the Biggest Competitor
19:45 Finding Unconsidered Needs With AI Research
25:30 Biggest Preparation Mistakes in Executive Pitches
29:30 You Phrasing and the Power Dynamic Shift
31:45 The EBITDA Pivot and Avoiding Speeds and Feeds
34:30 Breaking Through the Procurement Gatekeeper
38:30 The Value Wedge and Defensible Differentiation
41:00 Making the Customer the Hero Through Storytelling
43:00 Decision-Making Psychology and Managing Risk
47:30 Prospect Theory and the Cost of Inaction
52:30 Telling Details Versus Superlatives in a Pitch
53:45 Reframing Emotional Anchors With Analogies
55:30 The Three Deadly Sins of Sales Messaging
56:30 How to Connect With Corporate Visions

ToxiMapp aggregates over 60 geospatial environmental datasets to show users exactly which toxicants are present in the air, water, and soil near any U.S. address, and the platform's founders say most people have no idea what surrounds them.
Deb Hordon, Ph.D., founder and CEO of ToxiMapp, built the platform after moving her infant daughter into two separate communities with cancer clusters. Neither location looked dangerous. One was a picturesque seacoast area between Maine and New Hampshire with expensive real estate and top-rated schools. The data told a different story. Peter Cada, chief environmental scientist at ToxiMapp and an instructor at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, joined to build the underlying data infrastructure, drawing on his prior work contributing to the EPA's EnviroAtlas.
The episode covers how ToxiMapp's patent-pending toxin intensity scoring system works across air, water, and land media; why the platform is positioned as a shortcut for Phase I environmental site assessments and NEPA reviews; how partnerships with healthcare providers and diagnostic labs like Mosaic Diagnostics connect environmental exposure data to clinical testing; and what the roadmap looks like as the platform approaches 1,900 tracked toxicants and adds surface water and expanded air quality datasets.
The conversation also addresses PFAS contamination, the ethics of publishing environmental data near residential properties, crowdsourcing as a future data collection strategy, and the platform's current pricing model starting at $19.99 per address search.
#EnvironmentalHealth #ToxiMapp #toxins #data #mapping #environment #riskmanagement #pfas
TAGS:
environmental toxins map, toxic neighborhood score, environmental site assessment tool, PFAS tracking, EPA ECHO alternative, EnviroAtlas, Mosaic Diagnostics, cancer cluster, environmental intelligence platform, geospatial environmental data, phase one ESA, brownfield sites, Superfund sites, environmental consulting tools, air water soil contamination, environmental health podcast, GIS environmental analysis
Learn more at https://www.toximapp.com/

Thanks to our Sponsors: Cascade Environmental, E-Tank & E-Pump, and WASTELINQ

Microplastics appear on a federal contaminant watchlist for the first time, and the regulatory path forward remains far from certain. Megan Quinn, senior reporter at Waste Dive, breaks down what the EPA's proposed new Contaminant Candidate List 6 actually means for water utilities, landfill operators, and chemical manufacturers, and why the lack of standardized test methods could slow any future regulation significantly.

Quinn explains how the CCL process works, who sits on the newly reshuffled Science Advisory Board, and why the parallel push from the MAHA movement adds political complexity to what is otherwise a science-driven process. The conversation draws on direct parallels to how PFAS moved through the regulatory pipeline over more than a decade, from early CCL listings to drinking water standards to hazardous substance designations, offering a framework for understanding how microplastics and newly listed pharmaceuticals might follow a similar, lengthy trajectory.

The episode also covers the dissolution of the EPA's Office of Research and Development, New Mexico's move to regulate PFAS as a hazardous waste, the Department of War's updated PFAS destruction and disposal guidance, and what the rollback of certain PFAS drinking water standards signals about the current administration's regulatory priorities. The public comment period for the draft CCL 6 closes June 5, 2026.

Megan Quinn covers state and federal recycling policy, PFAS, chemical recycling, environmental justice, and EPA regulatory changes for Waste Dive.

0:00 Introduction and Megan Quinn's Background
1:55 What Is the Contaminant Candidate List 6
5:00 Public Comment Period and Finalization Timeline
6:45 Science Advisory Board Changes Under Trump
8:45 Who Is Affected by CCL 6
10:30 Should Companies Begin Sampling Now
13:00 Lack of Analytical Methods for Microplastics
15:10 EPA Research Capacity and Budget Cuts
17:30 Private Industry's Role in Federal Research
19:15 Public Concerns and Red Flags
21:00 PFAS as a Regulatory Roadmap for Microplastics
25:45 How Waste Dive Covers EPA Announcements
28:00 New Mexico PFAS Rules and PFAS Incineration
30:15 Advice for Stakeholders Watching CCL 6
33:30 Who Is Monitoring for Microplastics Now
34:30 Closing Remarks