Chemicals giant Arkema Inc. has been one of the companies and groups lobbying on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. @Arkema_group/Twitter
Corbin Hiar and Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder
report for E&E News:
With growing concerns about drinking water contamination in communities nationwide, lobbyists have rushed to shape the emerging congressional debate around a decades-old class of widely used toxic chemicals.
Nearly two dozen groups disclosed lobbying federal officials on issues related to “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” or “PFAS,” in the last quarter of 2018 — the most recent period for which data are available — up from just one company during the same period a year before, according to an E&E News analysis of filings.
Amid a flurry of regulatory and legislative action on the chemicals, organizations representing environmentalists, doctors, and cities have entered the lobbying fray alongside powerful industry associations and giant corporations like Exxon Mobil Corp., Dow Chemical Co., and Chemours Co.
Overall, 28 separate entities have specifically listed lobbying Congress or agencies on PFAS since the issue first popped up in a filing by French chemical maker Arkema Inc. from the fourth quarter of 2017. Beyond Capitol Hill, some of the top advocacy targets were EPA, the Department of Health and Human Services, and White House offices.
And the number of groups that in the last two years spoke to congressional members and agency officials about the chemicals — found in everything from nonstick cookware to firefighting foam but only recently linked to health risks like cancer — could be even higher.
That’s because some outfits could be obscuring their PFAS advocacy by only disclosing lobbying on vague issues such as “drinking water” or “chemicals.” And the American Chemistry Council has been advocating on what the lobby group refers to “flourotechnology” for several years.
But K Street’s newfound interest in PFAS, in particular, comes as no surprise to Betsy Southerland, the former director of science and technology in EPA’s Office of Water.
“Early on, I don’t think we had a lot of lobbying on either side of the issue — either for more regulation or no regulation — because people were clueless,” said Southerland, who left EPA in 2017 after more than three decades at the agency.
“As more and more communities monitor for these things, they become aware that they have a problem. So I think that’s why you’re seeing a spike in the lobbying right now,” she said.
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