Search Results for: PFAS

Andrew Wheeler, former energy lobbyist, confirmed as nation’s top environmental official

As acting chief at the EPA, Wheeler has advanced the Trump administration’s deregulation agenda. 

Wheeler on climate change: ‘I would not call it the greatest crisis’
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) grilled EPA administrator nominee Andrew Wheeler about climate change on Jan. 15. (Reuters)







By Brady Dennis and Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post
February 28 at 1:09 PM


The Senate on Thursday approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to head the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 52 to 47, elevating a veteran of Washington political and industry circles who has advanced President Trump’s push to rollback Obama-era environmental regulations.
Wheeler, who began his career at EPA during the 1990s but spent years on Capitol Hill before heading to the private sector, has won praise from Republicans for his deregulatory agenda but criticism from Democrats for his refusal to take action on climate change and several public health priorities. 

He has been running the agency since Trump’s first administrator, Scott Pruitt, stepped down in July amid multiple scandals surrounding his management and spending practices. Trump said in November that he intended to nominate Wheeler for the top job, saying he had done a “fantastic job” in his interim role.
At his confirmation hearing in January, Wheeler highlighted dozens of significant rules that the EPA has begun to roll back during the past two years, and he made clear to lawmakers that he intended to continue the Trump administration’s reversal of environmental regulations.
“Through our deregulatory actions, the Trump administration has proven that burdensome federal regulations are not necessary to drive environmental progress,” Wheeler said at the time. “Certainty and the innovation that thrives in a climate of certainty are key to progress.” 

Despite the litany of rollbacks, the EPA under Wheeler also has rolled out initiatives aimed at reducing lead exposures around the country and providing oversight for a class of unregulated, long-lasting chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, that pose serious health risks to millions of Americans. But the agency has yet to take definitive regulatory action on those proposals.

One Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, voted against Wheeler’s confirmation Thursday on the grounds that he had worked to water down federal rules curbing greenhouse gas pollution from power plants, as well as weaken fuel standards for the nation’s cars and pickup trucks.

“I believe that Mr. Wheeler, unlike Scott Pruitt, understands the mission of the EPA and acts in accordance with ethical standards; however, the policies he has supported as Acting Administrator are not in the best interest of our environment and public health, particularly given the threat of climate change to our nation,” Collins, who supported Wheeler’s confirmation as deputy EPA administrator last year, said in a statement.
While Democrats initially viewed Wheeler as a pragmatic technocrat with whom they could forge a handful of policy compromises, they expressed disappointment over key decisions he has made at the agency.

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Two Senate moderates come out against Andrew Wheeler as EPA chief but he has enough votes to secure the post

Acting Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Acting Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

BY DINO GRANDONI with Paulina Firozi
Writing in the Washington Post’s Power Post

Andrew Wheeler inched closer Wednesday to becoming the official administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

But if or when the acting director is confirmed by the Senate (and it’s almost guaranteed to be “when”), he will do so with less support than he had last year when he was confirmed as the EPA’s No. 2 official.

Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, said Wednesday that she will not vote to confirm Wheeler to the position atop the agency. Neither will Joe Manchin III, the centrist Democrat from coal-producing West Virginia, after voting Wednesday against advancing Wheeler’s nomination in the Senate.

Both senators had supported Wheeler when he was confirmed to be the EPA’s deputy administrator, but said they have found his record at the agency too lacking to support him again.

While Wheeler remains popular with the vast majority of elected Republicans, and reviled among most Democrats, these two defections are the latest sign the EPA’s rollback of environmental rules is wearing thin among those in the middle of the political spectrum.

Collins praised Wheeler for acting ethically at the agency and understanding its mission “unlike Scott Pruitt,” the former EPA chief who became mired in investigations of his spending and managing conduct. But she faulted Wheeler for halting efforts by President Barack Obama’s administration to curb greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and power plants.

“While Mr. Wheeler is certainly qualified for this position, I have too many concerns with the actions he has taken during his tenure as Acting Administrator to be able to support his promotion,” she said in a statement.

Manchin, meanwhile, said Wheeler was not making “meaningful progress” on clean water standards, citing the agency’s failure to limit the amount of certain pollutants — called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — going into the water of some industrial towns in his and other states. The EPA announced this month it plans to place legal limits on PFAS concentrations but has not done so.

“I believe immediate action must be taken, and these efforts lack a sense of urgency,” he said.

Both senators cited the EPA’s attempt to undo rules designed to limit emissions of mercury, which can damage the brains of infants and young children. As Manchin noted, “the industry doesn’t even support” that rollback.

But those no votes probably aren’t enough to stop Wheeler from being confirmed. The rest of the Republicans in the Senate appear to support President Trump’s EPA pick, virtually guaranteeing his confirmation by the GOP-controlled chamber. On Wednesday, the Senate advanced his nomination to lead the agency in a 52-to-46 vote along party lines. (Collins voted yes on that procedural vote while vowing to vote no on Wheeler’s final confirmation.)

Collins is one a handful of Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2020 who has shown a willingness to buck Trump at times on environmental issues. Last year, for example, Thom Tillis of North Carolina helped sink the nomination of Michael Dourson to be the EPA’s top chemical safety official over concerns about his “body of work” for chemical companies.


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Drink at your own risk. EPA won’t set PFOA, PFOS limits

EPA PFAS sign. Photo credit: Hannah Northey/E&E News

EPA in October 2018 held a discussion on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in Michigan. Hannah Northey/E&E News








Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder and Corbin Hiar 
report for E&E News:
EPA will not set a legal limit for two PFAS chemicals in drinking water, angering environmentalists and lawmakers.
An EPA spokeswoman did not deny a report from Politico, citing unnamed sources, about the expected action but said a PFAS-related plan is “currently undergoing interagency review.”
“EPA will be prepared to discuss the contents of the plan as soon as interagency review is complete, and the plan is public,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are a family of thousands of chemicals that have been used in products ranging from nonstick cookware to firefighting foam. Health effects of exposure may include increased risk of cancer and problems with growth, learning and behavior in infants and children.
The two chemicals that apparently won’t be regulated — PFOA and PFOS — have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer.
Without limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, utilities would not be required to test for the chemicals and make sure they aren’t present in what people drink.
Environmental groups expressed outrage.
“If these sources are right, the EPA is essentially telling the more than 110 million Americans whose water is likely contaminated with PFAS: ‘Drink up, folks,'” said Environmental Working Group senior scientist David Andrews.
More than 1,500 drinking water systems across the country could be contaminated with the chemicals, according to EWG research.
“It is absolutely unconscionable for the Trump administration to refuse to even start the process of setting a limit on these poisonous chemicals,” said Erik Olson, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s senior director for health and food.

Action on the Hill

The decision, if EPA stays the course, may lead to action on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been pressing the agency to address PFAS.
Last week, while launching a bipartisan PFAS Task Force, several lawmakers talked about bills to introduce. If EPA, as reported, is declining to strictly regulate PFAS, those measures could soon emerge.
“I am currently pushing legislation, as well as with others, that would add to the Safe Drinking Water Act an enforceable standard for PFOS,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), referring to a type of PFAS that industry phased out of production in 2015.
“It’s kind of hard to believe, but the standard that is there now is voluntary and any cleanup that happens is voluntary,” he said.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), the task force’s co-chairman, added that “virtually all of the legislation that many of us had introduced in the last session either is being introduced or already has been introduced.”
Kildee is currently co-sponsoring H.R. 535, from Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), which calls for EPA to designate PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. The agency would reportedly do that for some — but not all — types of PFAS.
Last Congress, Kildee introduced or backed three piece of PFAS legislation:
  • H.R. 6835, which sought to make it easier for federal agencies to work with states on addressing PFAS contamination.
  • H.R. 7284, which would have required a nationwide survey of perfluorinated compounds.
  • H.R. 6993, which aimed to provide additional services to veterans exposed to PFAS on military bases.
When it comes to oversight of EPA, Dingell announced at the task force launch that the Energy and Commerce Committee she serves on was planning a hearing devoted to PFAS (E&E Daily, Jan. 24).

Wheeler confirmation

EPA’s actions on PFAS could complicate the confirmation of acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, nominated to lead the agency on a permanent basis, and Peter Wright, Trump’s pick to lead the solid waste office.
Work that Michael Dourson, a failed nominee to lead EPA’s chemicals efforts, did on PFAS led North Carolina’s two Republican senators to break ranks in 2017 and effectively derail his confirmation (Greenwire, March 20, 2018).
After Dourson’s defeat, EPA attempted to get out in front of the PFAS issue. It held a summit with state regulators and made a series of regulatory commitments. Now, deadlines for those promises are fast approaching or have already passed (Greenwire, May 22, 2018).

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Regulators play ‘whack-a-mole’ with substitute chemicals

Manufacturers have responded to increasing regulation by introducing chemical alternatives that have not been fully vetted, scientists tell NJ Spotlight roundtable

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:

water quality test

New Jersey’s nation-leading efforts to protect the public from a class of toxic chemicals in drinking water are being threatened by the emergence of substitutes that may be just as hazardous to human health, experts argue.
At a public roundtable on PFAS chemicals, hosted by NJ Spotlight last Wednesday, scientists said chemical manufacturers have responded to increasing regulation of the chemicals by New Jersey and other states by introducing so-called short-chain alternatives, such as the chemical Gen-X, that serve the same purposes but have not been fully vetted by regulators.
Although the substitutes have not been subject to the same rigorous evaluation as the original chemicals, there are signs that they are equally toxic, according to the chairman of New Jersey’s Drinking Water Quality Institute, a scientific panel that advises the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Many times, these have not really been tested on rodents, they have not gone through a full toxicity screening,” said Dr. Keith Cooper, a Rutgers University toxicologist. “Some of the early studies that have been done on Gen-X, it seems to be extremely toxic as well,” Cooper told the meeting at Camden County Community College.

Keith Cooper

Rutgers University’s Dr. Keith Cooper
He said the short-chain compounds have similar mechanisms to long-chain PFAS chemicals such as PFOA and PFOS. “The toxicity may still be present even though they are only present for a shorter period of time,” Cooper said.


Not enough research

But because of a shortage of research on the new chemicals, scientists and regulators know “very little” about the shorter-chain PFASs, he said.
New Jersey regulators are in the process of placing some of the nation’s strictest limits on three of the longer-chain chemicals — PFNA, PFOA and PFOS — because of their links with illnesses including cancer, immune-system and thyroid problems, low infant birth weight, and elevated cholesterol.
As a class, PFAS chemicals have been used in consumer products like nonstick cookware and flame-retardant fabrics since about the 1940s. Even though PFOA and PFOS are no longer made in the United States because of an agreement between manufacturers, they are widespread in the environment because they are designed not to break down; they have been found more commonly in New Jersey water sources than in many other states.

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A possible solution to the challenge of regulating the new short-chain chemicals could be to regulate the whole PFAS class, said Anthony Matarazzo, senior director of water quality and environmental management at New Jersey American Water, the state’s biggest water utility.

‘…a lot of the same health effects’

Anthony Matarazzo, senior director for Water Quality and Environmental Management, New Jersey American Water
“Recognizing that PFOA and PFOS are being targeted, industry quickly changed to a short-chain replacement,” based on the belief that it would be eliminated by the body faster, Matarazzo said. “But what they did find was that it has a lot of the same health effects as the legacy PFASs.”
Regulating the entire class rather than just individual chemicals would mean that scientists could avoid playing “whack-a-mole” to respond to new chemicals as they emerged, he argued.
In response to the new concerns, New Jersey American Water is cooperating with state officials to look at the substitute compounds at a couple of its locations, Matarazzo said.
Meanwhile, DEP officials are evaluating the DWQI’s recommendations on PFOA and PFOS but at a pace that clean-water advocates say is much too slow.
It took the DEP four years to adopt the DWQI’s recommendation for PFNA, which has set a national benchmark for regulating the chemical, said panelist Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the environmental group Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and a long-time advocate for tougher limits on the chemicals.

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NJ becomes first state to establish standards for PFOAs

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Military: No chemical tests for fish near PA, NJ bases

Mirror Lake in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton, NJ Burlco Times photo

Kyle Bagenstose reports for the Burlington County Times:

Last week, the NJDEP released a study finding fish near the bases could be contaminated with enough chemicals to harm residents who catch and eat them. However, military officials say there are no immediate plans to test fish near Pennsylvania and New Jersey bases.
But Navy officials in Pennsylvania said they’ll continue to work with regulators to “evaluate” potential ways which humans could be exposed to the chemicals.
In mid-July, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection released fish consumption advisories based on a study of the state’s fish for perfluorinated compounds or PFAS. The toxic chemicals are being found in water systems across the country after being used for decades in a variety of consumer and industrial products. They were also used in military-grade firefighting foams, and have been found in large amounts at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, as well as a trio of former and current bases in Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania.
The chemicals are not regulated at the federal level. That leaves states such as New Jersey to conduct much of their own research into potential health risks. As a part of that effort, New Jersey studied fish in about a dozen lakes and creeks near sites of suspected PFAS contamination to assess how much of the chemicals had been built up in their bodies. Lakes near the joint base showed the highest levels of the chemicals of anywhere in the state, leading the NJDEP to recommend limiting fish consumption to just one meal a season or year, depending on the species.

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NJ heading toward tougher chemicals-in-water rule. Could it embarrass the USEPA into adopting similar standards?

If DEP adopts nation’s strictest proposal regarding PFOS, regulators could require public water systems and private well owners to limit amount of chemical in drinking water to 13 ppt

chemicals in beakers

Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight:
Scientists are recommending that New Jersey adopt the nation’s strictest limit on a toxic chemical that was once used for nonstick cookware and flame-resistant fabrics and is now linked with certain cancers, high cholesterol, and immune-system problems.
The Drinking Water Quality Institute, which advises the Department of Environmental Protection, formally said on Friday that New Jersey’s drinking water should have no more than 13 parts per trillion (ppt) of the chemical PFOS, a part of the perflurochemical family (PFCs), also known as PFAS, in order to protect public health.
If adopted by the DEP, the proposal would become a “maximum contaminant limit” (MCL), which would allow regulators to require public water systems and private well owners to keep their water below that level.
PFOS is the third type of PFC to be evaluated by the DWQI since 2014. The panel has also recommended strict limits on PFNA, which was accepted by the DEP, and PFOA, which the DEP has not yet adopted more than a year after the recommendation was made.

Higher levels in New Jersey

The chemicals have been found in New Jersey more often and in higher concentrations than in many other states. EPA tests from 2013-2015 found PFOS in 3.4 percent of New Jersey public water systems, almost twice the national rate of 1.9 percent. In other tests from 2006-2016, PFOS was found in more than half of 76 public systems.
While the PFOS proposal was in line with the DWQI’s draft report on the chemical late last year, it refocused attention on New Jersey as a national leader in the regulation of PFCs during the same week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called a summit to discuss possible national regulation of the chemicals. The summit was attended by New Jersey officials, including acting DEP Commissioner Catherine McCabe.

The recommended legal limit for PFOS in New Jersey is much stricter than a health-advisory level issued by the EPA, which recommends — but does not require — a level of 70 ppt for PFOS and PFOA individually or combined. 


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Pallone wants White House to release PFCs report


New Jersey has some of strictest standards in country for regulating the contaminants, but environmentalist says DEP’s regulation process has slowed

water quality test
Jon Hurdle reports for NJ Spotlight

Lawmakers and environmentalists are urging the federal government to release a report recommending tight new limits on a class of chemicals that New Jersey is playing a leading role in regulating.

The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry indicated it is preparing to release a study saying that the PFC family of chemicals (perfluorochemicals), also known as PFAS, should be subject to much tighter restrictions than those advocated — but not required — by the Environmental Protection Agency.
That prompted officials at the EPA and the White House to warn of a public relations “nightmare” as they anticipated a clash between federal agencies over a matter of public health, according to emails obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists and recently published by some media outlets and advocacy groups.
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), on Wednesday accused the White House of blocking the ATSDR study, and called for its release.
“Families throughout our country have a right to know about dangerous contaminants in their drinking water,” Pallone said in a statement. “The White House has once again shown that it cares more about public relations than public health by burying an HHS study that shows a class of toxic chemicals endanger human health at far lower levels than EPA previously considered safe.”


Pallone will ‘do everything’ to get report released

“While I am pleased that New Jersey already has standards close to the ATSDR recommendation, I will work with my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee and throughout Congress to do everything within our power to ensure that the report is released,” Pallone said.
According to the internal EPA emails, White House officials expressed concern in January that tough new limits on PFCs were due to be proposed by the ATSDR, a unit of the Department of Health and Human Services. Since ATSDR’s limits for two of the chemicals would be as much as 10 times lower than the advisory issued by EPA, that would be tough to explain to the public, according to one of the emails from an unnamed official at the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.


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Pa water authority mulls suit against fire-foam makers

Foam used to contain storage tank fire in England (BBC photo)

Kyle Bagenstose reports for Bucks County Courier Times:


Board members of the Warminster (Pa) Municipal Authority voted unanimously Friday afternoon to pay a legal firm to assess whether the authority could file a lawsuit to recoup its expenses over recent water contamination.

Philadelphia law firm Anapol Weiss will investigate “the viability of a legal cause of action against various manufacturers of the firefighting foam” that was used for decades at the former Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, said authority solicitor Robert Nemeroff, of Jenkintown’s Friedman Schuman law firm. A subject of extensive investigation by this newspaper, the foams contained perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, that contaminated the water aquifer beneath Warminster and other nearby towns.
Several area lawsuits already have been filed against manufacturers of firefighting foam, although all were brought by private citizens. Anapol Weiss represents clients in those suits.
The Warminster Municipal Authority, which serves about 40,000 people, has been severely impacted by water contamination. Some of the highest levels of chemicals PFOS and PFOA in the nation were found in the water authority’s groundwater supply wells in 2014, prompting their closure. Several more were shuttered in 2016 after the Environmental Protection Agency lowered its recommended safety limit for the chemicals.

In all, six of the authority’s 18 wells were found to contain the chemicals above the EPA safety limit. The military has agreed to pay millions of dollars to install carbon treatment systems on four of the six wells. The military originally agreed to pay for the two others as well, but reneged after retesting about two years later found chemical levels had fallen back below the EPA recommended safety limit, Nemeroff said.


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