On Jan. 8th, WEF sent both an individual letter and a joint letter (with others in the water sector) to Congress regarding the PFAS Action Act (HR 535).
WEF reached out to Congress to show our concern for the unintended consequences and problematic nature that HR 535, the PFAS Action Act, could post to wastewater utilities. HR 535, which was introduced by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), requires the Environmental Protection Agency to designate all PFAS and PFOS as hazardous substances within one year of enactment of this bill.
The letters -- both the one from WEF alone and the joint letter from WEF and others in the water sector-- relay our concerns that if HR 535 is passed into law (as written), Congress would be circumventing the scientific and regulatory process by mandating that EPA add all PFAS as a hazardous substance under CERCLA and list PFAS as toxic pollutants under the Clean Water Act. This would bypass the process by which EPA first assesses which PFAS chemicals pose public health concerns and then sets evidence-based risk levels and cleanup thresholds. In short, the legislation would put the “cart before the horse” by mandating certain action before the appropriate scientific and risk analyses have been made.
Not only do important scientific determinations first need to be made, the focus needs to remain on the parties responsible for PFAS being in water, such as manufacturers and industrial users. Utilities and their customers should not bear the high costs of remediating PFAS.
On Jan. 10, the legislation was passed in the House by a vote of 247 - 159. However, it does not look like the Senate even plans to bring up the House bill as it stands now. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chair John Barrasso (R-WY) said as much on the 8th, when he said the bill is overreaching and has "no prospects" of passing in the U.S. Senate.
