Issuing the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule to improve EPA\u2019s understanding of the frequency that 29 PFAS are found in the nation\u2019s drinking water systems and at what levels and preparing to propose a\u00a0PFAS National Drinking Water Regulation by the end of 2022.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/p>\n
What They Are Saying<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter more than two years pushing the EPA to list toxic PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances, I am proud of today\u2019s announcement by President Biden and EPA Administrator Regan, which will reduce pollution and protect public health. This important step will allow communities to pursue polluters \u2013 from manufacturers to irresponsible polluters \u2013 and hold them accountable for the damage done. I applaud the EPA\u2019s continued work to address PFAS contamination and I will keep pushing for speedy cleanups across New York: from Long Island to Newburgh to Westchester and Niagara.\u201d \u2013 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY)<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many communities across the country are struggling to address the presence of PFAS chemicals on their land and in their waters. Hat\u2019s off to EPA for taking this bold and necessary step to get those responsible for this contamination to pitch in and help communities to clean up. This is a first step in a much-needed, all-hands effort to keep harmful PFAS chemicals out of our air, water, and soils.\u201d \u2013 Senator Tom Carper (DE), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith this announcement, the tens of millions of Americans who live near a PFAS-contaminated site can finally rest easier knowing that help is on the way. This is the kind of leadership and care for public health our communities deserve, and I commend Administrator Regan for continuing to prioritize the best interests of the American people over those of corporate polluters. That this proposed rule ensures communities will finally get boots on the ground \u2014 and that polluters will pay the bill \u2014 is particularly laudable. This action comes as especially welcome news for environmental justice communities, who have endured the scourge of toxic PFAS contamination for far too long. I look forward to working with EPA to ensure this\u00a0critically-needed\u00a0proposed rule gets across the finish line.\u201d \u2013 Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s proposal to designate two of the most widely used PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances is a critical step as we seek to combat these dangerous chemicals that wreak havoc on the environment and the health of our communities. Keeping these \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 from polluting water and sewage systems must also mean holding polluters accountable and financially responsible. I applaud today\u2019s actions and look forward to making further progress through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which invests $10 billion to address PFAS contamination.\u201d \u2013 Congressman Peter DeFazio (OR-04), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee<\/p>\n
\u201cMaine has been at the forefront of the PFAS crisis, and while we\u2019re only at the beginning stages of understanding its scope, it\u2019s been clear we urgently need to address the nationwide contamination. These PFAS chemicals are persistent,\u00a0bioaccumulative, and toxic, posing serious health risks to all Americans. After years of pushing for federal action, I\u2019m thrilled to see the EPA is finally taking steps to clean up contaminated sites and hold polluters accountable.\u201d \u2013 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies<\/p>\n
\u201cAll across the country, PFAS contaminations have put Americans\u2019 health at risk. Moving forward with a CERCLA hazardous substance designation for PFOA and PFOS is an important step in fulfilling the agency\u2019s commitments in its PFAS Strategic Roadmap and will ensure that communities are able to hold PFAS polluters accountable. I want to thank Administrator Regan and the EPA staff for their work, and I encourage the agency to finalize this proposal as quickly as possible.\u201d \u2013 Congressman Paul Tonko (NY-20), Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Environment & Climate Change<\/p>\n
“Today, our federal government is taking an important step toward protecting citizens from dangerous \u2018forever chemicals\u2019 like PFOS and PFOA. The EPA’s proposal to properly categorize these two PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances will ensure immediate transparency on the health and safety risks posed to our communities, as well as further safeguard all Americans from the harmful effects of PFAS contamination in the future. I am proud to support this action and look forward to the continued implementation of the PFAS Strategic Roadmap by Administrator Regan and the EPA.” \u2013 Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), Co-Chair of the Congressional PFAS Task Force<\/p>\n
\u201cI applaud this long overdue action to hold polluters accountable for contaminating communities with harmful PFAS chemicals. Thousands of communities have been harmed by PFAS contamination, including Oscoda, Michigan in my district. Today\u2019s action is the first step to finally provide these communities with the resources they need to clean up these dangerous forever chemicals and ensure that polluters, not taxpayers, foot the bill.\u201d \u2013 Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05), Co-Chair of the Congressional PFAS Task Force<\/p>\n
\u201cGranite Staters know all too well the harmful impacts of PFAS chemicals, which are tied to adverse health effects and environmental pollution. The administration took an important step today toward classifying two of the most widely used and dangerous PFAS chemicals \u2013 PFOS and PFOA \u2013 as hazardous substances under the Superfund law. I\u2019ve long pushed for this designation to increase transparency and hold polluters accountable, and I\u2019ll keep working to improve our public health response and support Granite Staters affected by PFAS contamination.\u201d \u2013 Senator Jeanne Shaheen (NH)<\/p>\n
\u201cForever chemicals are an urgent public health and environmental threat for communities across the country, including the ones I represent, and the number of contamination sites nationwide continues to grow at an alarming rate. In 2018, we learned the Huron River was contaminated end-to-end with these chemicals after decades of industrial pollution and in response I introduced the bipartisan PFAS Action Act to designate PFAS as the hazardous substances we know they are. I applaud President Biden and the EPA for taking this significant step forward. Designating PFOA and PFOS\u2014the two most notorious and harmful chemicals\u2014will go a long way in helping to finally jumpstart cleanups nationwide, prevent future PFAS contamination, hold polluters accountable, and protect Americans from the dangerous effects of these chemicals long-term. I thank the EPA for acting and will continue working with the agency to rid our environment and communities of harmful forever chemicals.\u201d \u2013 Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12)<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased that the EPA is moving to designate PFOA and PFOS\u2014two of the most common \u2018forever chemicals\u2019\u2014as hazardous substances under CERCLA. Earlier this month, I joined over 100 of my colleagues to call on EPA to take this action. North Carolinians are too familiar with the harmful environmental and health effects of PFAS contamination, and this is an important step towards holding polluters accountable and cleaning up our communities. I want to thank EPA Administrator Regan for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to learning more about the steps his agency is taking to protect our people from these chemicals. I will continue my work in Congress to do the same.\u201d \u2013 Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02)<\/p>\n
\u201cI applaud the EPA for taking bold and needed action to classify PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances that will help protect New Yorkers and communities across the nation from the potential health risks posed by these forever chemicals. In New York, we\u2019re at the forefront of the fight to ensure these harmful chemicals don\u2019t pollute our communities and waterways while ensuring those who are accountable are cleaning up the contamination they cause. We stand with the EPA on this decision and will continue our aggressive work in New York to protect our communities from contaminants.” \u2013 Governor Kathy\u00a0Hochul\u00a0(NY)<\/p>\n
\u201cPFAS has impacted not only the environment,\u00a0ithas also impacted production agriculture in areas where water contamination or land applications of contaminated materials have taken place.\u00a0 While state agriculture agencies have safeguarded the food supply by removing known contaminated products from the food supply, we are only beginning to understand the extent of PFAS contamination.\u00a0 By designating PFAS as a hazardous chemical, we as a nation, begin the process of identifying the impacts and initiating the cleanup process.\u201d \u2013 New Mexico Secretary of Agriculture Jeff M. Witte, Chair of the EPA Local Government Advisory Committee Health Communities Workgroup<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades, polluters dumped toxic PFOA and PFOS into scores of communities across the country with impunity. Today\u2019s proposal will give the EPA and those communities critical new tools to finally hold those polluters accountable and force them to clean up their mess.\u201d \u2013 Ken Cook, President of the Environmental Working Group<\/p>\n
Read the prepublication version of this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking here.<\/a><\/p>\nRead more about EPA\u2019s strategy to address PFAS here.<\/a><\/p>\nRead more about EPA\u2019s Superfund program here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EPA Proposes Designating Certain PFAS Chemicals as Hazardous Substances Under Superfund to Protect People\u2019s Health Designating PFOA and PFOS under CERCLA would improve transparency, accountability, and deliver on Administrator Regan\u2019s PFAS Strategic Roadmap\u00a0 *From US EPA Website August 26, 2022 Contact Information EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov) WASHINGTON\u00a0(August 26, 2022)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Followingthrough on the Biden-Harris Administration\u2019s commitment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,14,7,5,11,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18225,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18224\/revisions\/18225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}