Latest news with #Superfundlaw
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Arkansas to test surface waters for PFAS, identify contamination sources
Arkansas will begin testing surface waters for PFAS using $1.8 million in grant funding. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission approved a $1.8 million grant to test surface waters for PFAS, the first known statewide effort to catalogue potential contamination from these 'forever chemicals.' PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of thousands of chemicals that don't break down naturally and have been linked to a number of health concerns, such as cancer. Revelations of PFAS' health implications — and how chemical companies knew for decades about the dangers they posed — have led to thousands of lawsuits, with many claiming it caused cancer. States, including Arkansas, have also sued. The Division of Environmental Quality will use the funding to test surface waters for contamination. DEQ submitted a pilot project proposal to the commission last year requesting funds from the emerging contaminants allocation of the state revolving loan fund, said Melony Martinez, Department of Energy and Environment spokesperson. The multi-year project will use a 'phased approach to evaluate potential sources of PFAS' along with how it enters state waters. 'DEQ proposes to evaluate the status of PFAS in Arkansas' waters before considering implementation of monitoring requirements, pretreatment requirements, or other permit conditions for PFAS as recommended by the EPA,' Martinez said. The Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration moved aggressively to regulate PFAS in drinking water and surface waters, and classified the chemicals as a hazardous substance under the federal Superfund law. The Trump EPA has begun efforts to roll back some of those policies. The EPA announced last week that drinking water limits on four PFAS chemicals would be scrapped, while limits on PFOA and PFOS — two of the most common chemicals in the group — would be kept, but would not go into effect until 2031, two years later than originally scheduled. However, the EPA also said in April that it plans to take extensive action on PFAS. 'We are tackling PFAS from all of EPA's program offices, advancing research and testing, stopping PFAS from getting into drinking water systems, holding polluters accountable, and providing certainty for passive receivers,' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a press release. The EPA plans to list PFAS on the Toxic Release Inventory, a list of hazardous chemicals and substances, while making efforts to hold polluters responsible for PFAS contamination, according to the release. Arkansas, Tennessee, Wyoming and Washington D.C. do not have existing or planned PFAS standards or limits for drinking water, according to an April report by the Environmental Council of the States, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state environmental agency leaders. Stacie Wassell, head of DEQ's Office of Water Quality, told commissioners Wednesday that identifying and addressing PFAS contamination at the source was more cost-effective than trying to do so during the drinking water treatment process. 'It would be much cheaper to prevent it from contaminating our waters of the state than to remove it on the backside after it's already been contaminated,' Wassell said. State regulators have suspected that sources of PFAS contamination exist in the state, outside of two known sites — the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville and a former BASF facility in West Memphis. 'There are likely numerous other AFFF contamination sites in Arkansas that are yet to be investigated,' according to a DEQ memo written in March 2023 that was obtained via an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request. 'At present E&E has no information regarding dumping sites or industrial users of PFAs,' the memo reads. 'Industrial contamination sites likely exist in Arkansas, but due to lack of funding, equipment and human capital, no concerted, widespread investigation of PFAs contamination has occurred. … To date no field work has been done regarding PFAs.' AFFF is a type of firefighting foam used by the military and other entities due to its efficiency in putting out jet fuel fires, and is a leading cause of PFAS pollution.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New EPA plans targeting PFAS ‘raise serious red flags,' experts say
The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new list of measures targeting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which contaminate nearly half the drinking water in the United States. But public health experts have concerns about what that list doesn't include. 'There are a lot of vague promises in what was announced this week, but honestly, it really doesn't treat the PFAS forever chemicals crisis as, frankly, the five-alarm fire for public health that it is,' said Dr. Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health in the environmental health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. 'The key decisions that they were supposed to be making on those two things, they're completely silent on.' Called 'forever chemicals' because they don't break down in the environment, PFAS accumulate in our bodies and have been found in the blood of people of all ages, including newborns, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental health organization. Hundreds of studies have linked PFAS exposure with serious health problems, including testicular, kidney, liver and pancreatic cancer; reproductive problems; and weakened childhood immunity, Benesh said. Scientists have also discovered links to low birth weight, endocrine disruption, increased cholesterol and weight gain. During the Biden administration in April 2024, the EPA took historic steps to effectively require water systems to remove PFAS from tap water by 2029 and designate two types of PFAS as hazardous chemicals polluters must monitor and clean up under the Superfund law. The two subtypes are perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, known as PFOS. Industry associations and utility groups filed federal lawsuits against the administration in June, saying the new rules would be too costly, Olson said. The Biden-era EPA responded with briefs defending the rules. Then when President Donald Trump took office, the EPA suspended the litigation so it could decide whether to continue to defend the rules, rescind them, revise them or uphold them — a decision the agency has still not made. The EPA's last deadline for its next steps on the rule regarding the two PFAS subtypes was April 25, but the agency asked for an extension that day. On Monday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted the request and pushed the deadline to May 30. The EPA has also requested an extension of the deadline for its decision on whether to uphold the rule limiting PFAS set last year; the new date is May 12. The actions announced Monday will be 'strengthening the science, fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication, and building partnerships,' the EPA said. 'I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states and communities dealing with legacy contamination in their backyards,' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release. 'We are tackling PFAS from all of EPA's program offices, advancing research and testing, stopping PFAS from getting into drinking water systems, holding polluters accountable, and providing certainty for passive receivers. 'This is just the start of the work we will do on PFAS to ensure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water,' Zeldin said. Some actions continue what the EPA started within the last few years, but the announcement didn't address the outstanding questions — which Benesh said raises 'serious red flags.' 'The Trump EPA could slow down efforts to limit PFAS in drinking water, let polluters off the hook from reporting or reducing their PFAS discharges, and allow PFAS pollution to keep flowing into our air and water,' Benesh added. 'It could even block states from taking action to protect people from PFAS in everyday products.' While more details about the EPA's announcement are needed, member companies of the American Chemistry Council 'have consistently advocated for a comprehensive approach to managing PFAS, including for the designation of a point person to coordinate across differing programs and agencies,' the council said via email. Biden's action set the first national, legally enforceable standard limiting in drinking water five of more than 12,000 types of individual PFAS. Just two years prior, the EPA had issued health advisories saying the chemicals are significantly more hazardous than previously thought, at levels much lower than previously known. In 2024, the Biden administration also made available an unprecedented $1 billion in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories further develop treatment and testing. Colorado-based engineer Dr. Chad Seidel said there are 'critical data gaps about PFAS exposure in drinking water' and that most communities have lower levels of certain PFAS that 'don't warrant attention compared with pressing issues facing our communities' water systems.' Those include increasing numbers of broken pipes and related microbial contamination, and natural disasters that disrupt water from releasing from the tap, said Seidel, president of Corona Environmental Consulting, via email. Corona Environmental Consulting has clients in the water systems industry. The new EPA measures include advancing research, testing and solutions, and choosing an agency lead for PFAS and creating limitations guidelines to stop PFAS from entering water systems via liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or sea (known as effluent). Others focus on 'initiatives to engage with Congress and industry to establish a clear liability framework.' But if the EPA abandons the Biden-era actions on PFAS, it would be a significant setback for public health, said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, a nonprofit helping consumers evaluate goods and services. On top of that, the announcement occurs in the context of the EPA planning to drastically cut its resources in several ways: by slashing its budget by 65%, firing more than 1,000 employees, largely eliminating its independent scientific research arm, according to the Associated Press, and cutting grants for research on preventing PFAS from accumulating in crops. The agency's office of research and development, the main independent research arm, has played a pivotal role in ensuring PFAS regulations are backed by solid science, Benesh said. 'Overall, it would seem this announcement was more about creating a distraction by appearing to be doing something laudable, but in reality, undercutting any meaningful efforts behind the scenes and delaying taking any action to reduce the levels of PFAS in our drinking water,' Ronholm said. In 2024, the EPA awarded and spent over $63 billion dollars, the agency told CNN via email. The EPA maintains that to 'accomplish (its) core mission of protecting human health and the environment, it only requires 35% of that total' — a claim Olson called 'laughable.' 'If you're going to actually figure out where chemicals are toxic and are harming people, and figure out ways to check whether that's happening, and actually adopt protections and enforce the law, all of which EPA says it's going to do for PFAS — it's not possible to do that if you slash your budget by 65%,' Olson said. 'That's just an impossibility.' For people wanting to limit their exposure to PFAS, 'the first thing I would recommend is to learn what their utility is doing to reduce PFAS in drinking water,' said environmental epidemiologist Dr. Jane Hoppin, a professor in the department of biological sciences and principal investigator of the GenX Exposure Study at North Carolina State University. GenX is one of the several types of PFAS that was targeted by the Biden administration. 'Most public utilities have tested their water for PFAS and should have some baseline data as to the levels,' Hoppin added. At home, you can use a water filter independently certified by the National Sanitation Foundation or another official lab, experts said. Reverse osmosis filters are most effective but are more expensive. You can also avoid using conventional nonstick cookware and opt for ceramic instead.
CNN
02-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
PFAS: EPA measures targeting them lack key details, experts say
The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new list of measures targeting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which contaminate nearly half the drinking water in the United States. But public health experts have concerns about what that list doesn't include. 'There are a lot of vague promises in what was announced this week, but honestly, it really doesn't treat the PFAS forever chemicals crisis as, frankly, the five-alarm fire for public health that it is,' said Dr. Erik Olson, senior strategic director for health in the environmental health program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, DC. 'The key decisions that they were supposed to be making on those two things, they're completely silent on.' Called 'forever chemicals' because they don't break down in the environment, PFAS accumulate in our bodies and have been found in the blood of people of all ages, including newborns, said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental health organization. Hundreds of studies have linked PFAS exposure with serious health problems, including testicular, kidney, liver and pancreatic cancer; reproductive problems; and weakened childhood immunity, Benesh said. Scientists have also discovered links to low birth weight, endocrine disruption, increased cholesterol and weight gain. During the Biden administration in April 2024, the EPA took historic steps to effectively require water systems to remove PFAS from tap water by 2029 and designate two types of PFAS as hazardous chemicals polluters must monitor and clean up under the Superfund law. The two subtypes are perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, known as PFOS. Industry associations and utility groups filed federal lawsuits against the administration in June, saying the new rules would be too costly, Olson said. The Biden-era EPA responded with briefs defending the rules. Then when President Donald Trump took office, the EPA suspended the litigation so it could decide whether to continue to defend the rules, rescind them, revise them or uphold them — a decision the agency has still not made. The EPA's last deadline for its next steps on the rule regarding the two PFAS subtypes was April 25, but the agency asked for an extension that day. On Monday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted the request and pushed the deadline to May 30. The EPA has also requested an extension of the deadline for its decision on whether to uphold the rule limiting PFAS set last year; the new date is May 12. The actions announced Monday will be 'strengthening the science, fulfilling statutory obligations and enhancing communication, and building partnerships,' the EPA said. 'I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states and communities dealing with legacy contamination in their backyards,' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a news release. 'We are tackling PFAS from all of EPA's program offices, advancing research and testing, stopping PFAS from getting into drinking water systems, holding polluters accountable, and providing certainty for passive receivers. 'This is just the start of the work we will do on PFAS to ensure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water,' Zeldin said. Some actions continue what the EPA started within the last few years, but the announcement didn't address the outstanding questions — which Benesh said raises 'serious red flags.' 'The Trump EPA could slow down efforts to limit PFAS in drinking water, let polluters off the hook from reporting or reducing their PFAS discharges, and allow PFAS pollution to keep flowing into our air and water,' Benesh added. 'It could even block states from taking action to protect people from PFAS in everyday products.' While more details about the EPA's announcement are needed, member companies of the American Chemistry Council 'have consistently advocated for a comprehensive approach to managing PFAS, including for the designation of a point person to coordinate across differing programs and agencies,' the council said via email. Biden's action set the first national, legally enforceable standard limiting in drinking water five of more than 12,000 types of individual PFAS. Just two years prior, the EPA had issued health advisories saying the chemicals are significantly more hazardous than previously thought, at levels much lower than previously known. In 2024, the Biden administration also made available an unprecedented $1 billion in funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories further develop treatment and testing. Colorado-based engineer Dr. Chad Seidel said there are 'critical data gaps about PFAS exposure in drinking water' and that most communities have lower levels of certain PFAS that 'don't warrant attention compared with pressing issues facing our communities' water systems.' Those include increasing numbers of broken pipes and related microbial contamination, and natural disasters that disrupt water from releasing from the tap, said Seidel, president of Corona Environmental Consulting, via email. Corona Environmental Consulting has clients in the water systems industry. The new EPA measures include advancing research, testing and solutions, and choosing an agency lead for PFAS and creating limitations guidelines to stop PFAS from entering water systems via liquid waste or sewage discharged into a river or sea (known as effluent). Others focus on 'initiatives to engage with Congress and industry to establish a clear liability framework.' But if the EPA abandons the Biden-era actions on PFAS, it would be a significant setback for public health, said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, a nonprofit helping consumers evaluate goods and services. On top of that, the announcement occurs in the context of the EPA planning to drastically cut its resources in several ways: by slashing its budget by 65%, firing more than 1,000 employees, largely eliminating its independent scientific research arm, according to the Associated Press, and cutting grants for research on preventing PFAS from accumulating in crops. The agency's office of research and development, the main independent research arm, has played a pivotal role in ensuring PFAS regulations are backed by solid science, Benesh said. 'Overall, it would seem this announcement was more about creating a distraction by appearing to be doing something laudable, but in reality, undercutting any meaningful efforts behind the scenes and delaying taking any action to reduce the levels of PFAS in our drinking water,' Ronholm said. In 2024, the EPA awarded and spent over $63 billion dollars, the agency told CNN via email. The EPA maintains that to 'accomplish (its) core mission of protecting human health and the environment, it only requires 35% of that total' — a claim Olson called 'laughable.' 'If you're going to actually figure out where chemicals are toxic and are harming people, and figure out ways to check whether that's happening, and actually adopt protections and enforce the law, all of which EPA says it's going to do for PFAs — it's not possible to do that if you slash your budget by 65%,' Olson said. 'That's just an impossibility.' For people wanting to limit their exposure to PFAS, 'the first thing I would recommend is to learn what their utility is doing to reduce PFAS in drinking water,' said environmental epidemiologist Dr. Jane Hoppin, a professor in the department of biological sciences and principal investigator of the GenX Exposure Study at North Carolina State University. GenX is one of the several types of PFAS that was targeted by the Biden administration. 'Most public utilities have tested their water for PFAS and should have some baseline data as to the levels,' Hoppin added. At home, you can use a water filter independently certified by the National Sanitation Foundation or another official lab, experts said. Reverse osmosis filters are most effective but are more expensive. You can also avoid using conventional nonstick cookware and opt for ceramic instead.
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
E.P.A. Says It Will Tackle ‘Forever Chemicals.' Details are Sparse.
The Trump administration announced a flurry of measures to target PFAS contamination, but it stayed mum on whether it intends to uphold a Biden-era rule requiring utilities to remove the 'forever chemicals' from the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans. 'I have long been concerned about PFAS and the efforts to help states and communities dealing with legacy contamination in their backyards,' said Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in a statement. 'This is just a start of the work we will do on PFAS to ensure Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water.' PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases, and are used widely in everyday products such as waterproof clothing and paper straws. The chemicals, which don't break down easily in the environment, are turning up in drinking water across the country. According to the latest data from the E.P.A., as many as 158 million Americans have PFAS in their water. Last year, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. set the first limits on PFAS in drinking water. Those rules effectively require municipal water systems to remove certain kinds of PFAS. But water utilities and chemical-industry groups filed suit saying the drinking water standards would be too costly. The Trump administration faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue to defend the standards in court. On Monday, the E.P.A. announced measures to tackle PFAS contamination, including designating an official to lead the agency's efforts on the chemicals, creating guidelines for how much PFAS factories could release in their wastewater, and engaging with Congress to come up with ways to hold polluters responsible. The E.P.A. also said it would also determine a path forward to address PFAS contamination of fertilizer made from sewage sludge. Concerns have been growing over widespread contamination of American farmland from sludge fertilizer, also known as biosolids, containing dangerous levels of PFAS. At the same time, the E.P.A. has been cutting research grants to scientists studying how to prevent PFAS from accumulating in crops and the food chain. Environmental groups said E.P.A.'s plans lacked specifics, including whether the agency intended to defend the Biden-era drinking water standards in court. Among the only hints on what the Trump administration might do was a mention of the need to address 'compliance challenges.' The Trump administration also faces a court deadline next month on whether it will continue to defend the designation of two types of PFAS as hazardous chemicals that must be cleaned up by polluters under the nation's Superfund law, a measure also enacted by President Biden. 'The key things that we actually want a direct answer on, they completely punt,' said Erik D. Olson, a senior strategist on drinking water and health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. The E.P.A. also says it will rely on science, Mr. Olson said, but does not mention that the agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm and cut the overall agency budget by 65 percent. 'On one hand, the E.P.A. says it's going to do all this new work. But it's also going to slash the budget and eliminate the scientists that would be responsible for doing the work,' he said. 'I don't see how this adds up.' On Monday, the E.P.A. did not immediately comment on how it would proceed with drinking water standards and the Superfund policy. Industry groups suing the E.P.A. over PFAS, including the American Water Works Association and National Association of Manufacturers, also did not provide immediate comment. James L. Ferraro, an environmental attorney who represents several water utilities, said E.P.A.'s announcement 'signals that the agency is mindful of the cost burdens PFAS regulations may impose, not just on industry, but also on public water systems.' Still the new measures felt 'very preliminary,' he said. 'We'll see how this unfolds.' The E.P.A.'s announcement of steps to tackle PFAS comes as the administrations is pursuing a broad effort to roll back the nation's climate and environmental regulations. Still, polls have consistently shown that, compared to policies to tackle climate change, protecting clean water is popular regardless of politics. Even the White House has raised the alarm on PFAS, albeit in action against paper straws, saying that 'scientists and regulators have had substantial concerns about PFAS chemicals for decades.'
