On June 18, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report titled “Regulating Drinking Water Contaminants: EPA PFAS Actions” was published in order to summarize the effects PFAS legislation would have on the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) among other statutes. The CRS report also covers EPA’s new PFAS Action Plan.
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) have been in use since the 1940s and are now starting to receive significant attention from Congress and EPA because of some compounds hazardous properties. PFAS are a class of roughly 5,000 man-made chemicals of which only a handful are well studied. The most well-known chemicals, PFOS and PFOA, are known to be a cause of serious health problems potentially including cancer. PFAS chemicals are used in a wide array of consumer products such as non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, and water-repellent clothes. These chemicals may not breakdown in the natural environment and can be inhaled, consumed, or absorbed by humans. Some PFAS chemicals are toxic at levels of a few drops in an Olympic size swimming pool. Some of these chemicals were phased out in the 2000s, but many are still in use. The banned chemicals are still of great concern because long chain PFAS take a very long time to breakdown if they ever resulting in their persistent presence in the water, air, and environment in general.
Over the years, EPA has taken some steps to combat harmful PFAS contamination. In 2002 the EPA utilized its emergency powers under the SDWA to mandate clean ups of PFOS and PFOA on several sites including three Department of Defense (DOD) sites. In 2016 the EPA has issued a health advisory of 70 parts per trillion for PFOS and PFOA. This health advisory was issued under the SDWA which is the statute most commonly used to deal with PFAS. In 2013, EPA facilitated statutory mandated testing that found that PFOS and PFOA were present at levels above the health advisory level in public water systems at rates of .9% and .3% respectively.
Earlier this year, EPA issued an Action Plan, regarding how to deal with PFAS chemicals. The stated goals for the Agency outlined in the plan included initiating steps to outline maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for PFOS and PFOA, beginning necessary steps to propose designating PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances under a federal statute, developing groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOS and PFOA, and developing toxicity values for GenX chemicals and PFBS. Short term actions included developing new analytical methods and tools for understanding PFAS risk, promulgating Significant New Use Rules (SNUR) requiring EPA notification before chemicals are used in new ways that may pose human health risk or have negative environmental impacts, and when appropriate, using enforcement options to mitigate PFAS risk.
The EPA has provided limited time frame information regarding when they intend to complete the proposed aspects of their action plan. Most of their high priority actions are expected to be completed in 2019. That said almost all their actions involve simply the initial steps of much larger tasks. Timelines for those much larger tasks are not included in the action plan.
Congress has also taken a deep interest in the issue of PFAS contamination. There are at least thirty-five bills that have been introduced this Congress to counteract the harmful effects of PFAS. Some approach the issue by directing EPA to impose MCLs for PFAS while others would authorize grants for water systems to clean up PFAS. Because the Department of Defense used PFAS based firefighting foam which has made its way into the water systems, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2020 is also being considered a potential vehicle for combatting PFAS.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held two hearings this Congress on the issue of PFAS contamination of waterways. The first hearing was held to understand and examine the executive branches efforts to address the situation, while second hearing was to hear from experts in the field on the issue of PFAS contamination. On June 19, 2019 the committee voted unanimously to send the PFAS Release Disclosure Act (S. 1507), a bipartisan bill that was amended to combine several other Senate bills, to the full Senate. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change has also held a hearing on PFAS. (Summary by Michael Bradley)
