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At a congressional hearing, advocates say the federal government needs to address contamination worries

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:

Clean-water advocates and U.S. lawmakers pressed the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday to set an enforceable national health standard for the presence of toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water.

At a congressional hearing, advocates for tighter curbs on the chemicals said the government should address growing concern by establishing a level for each of the chemicals that would help state and local officials and private water systems protect public health.

Two days after New Jersey became the first state to regulate one of the chemicals, PFNA, an environment panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a three-hour hearing on how government can respond to increasing signs of contamination around the country.


The persistence of PFAS
Speakers accused the EPA of dragging its feet on setting strict limits on the chemicals, which have been used in products including nonstick cookware, flame-retardant fabrics, and firefighting foam, and have been phased out by U.S. manufacturers but are present in most people’s bodies and persist in some water systems.

Unless the federal government sets national standards that apply to water suppliers and provides scientific assistance in how to detect and treat the chemicals, state governments will not know how to regulate them, and the public will remain confused over whether their water is safe to drink, advocates said.

“Without Federal leadership, states are left on their own to make the tough decisions on whether and/or how to address PFAS in drinking water,” said Lisa Daniels, director of the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water at Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection and president of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators. Daniels urged Congress to direct all appropriate federal agencies to develop a unified voice on PFAS as soon as possible; to list the chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund law that provides federal funds for cleaning up hazardous waste sites; and to require PFAS reporting under the government’s Toxic Release Inventory.

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Divisions within the federal government over safe levels of PFAS in the environment emerged into public view this year when the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry recommended health limits for two of the chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, that were seven to 10 times lower than those advocated but not required by the EPA.

The conflicting advice led one federal official to warn of a “public relations nightmare” if officials had to explain the difference to the public, according to emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists ahead of the ATSDR release.


EPA working closely with other agencies

Peter Grevatt, director of the EPA’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, told the committee that the EPA is working closely with other federal agencies on the PFAS issue, but offered no update on the agency’s previously announced plan to look at whether to regulate the chemicals.
He said the EPA is working on a national management plan for PFAS, due for publication by the end of 2018, that would include its conclusions on whether to set “maximum contaminant limits” (MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS, two PFAS chemicals that are the focus of most regulation so far.
New Jersey set its first MCL by regulating PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid) at a level that is far stricter than the EPA’s health advisory. The state is implementing similarly tough limits on two other PFAS chemicals and has become a national leader in the field.
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