House Approved PFAS Action Act
By Doug La Rocque and a submission
from the Office of Representative Delgado
Last Friday, January 10, the United States House of Representatives approved legislation that will require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set a maximum contaminant level for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water, establish a grant program to help communities pay to remove PFAS from drinking water, and designate PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous materials under the EPA’s Superfund program. It will also require drinking water utilities to monitor for PFAS as part of the EPA’s unregulated contaminant monitoring program. This last part was an amendment co-sponsored by 19th District Representative Antonio Delgado, along with several Republican members of the House. According to a press release from the Congressman’s office, the amendment was to strengthen this legislation aimed at addressing PFAS contamination in our communities. Speaking on the House floor last Friday, Mr. Delgado said “Right now, communities in upstate New York continue to struggle with the impacts of PFAS contamination in drinking water. Residents of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh in Rensselaer County are living every day with the impacts of PFAS contamination—which we know include thyroid disease, birth defects, autoimmune disorders and cancer.
“Last year, Emily Marpe, who now lives with her family in Hoosick Falls, testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee about her experiences with contaminated water in her home in Petersburgh, New York.
“Emily spoke about her experiences of being unable to drink the water from her faucet, having to sell her home and then test her blood—as well as the blood of her children—for PFOA. What Emily described is all too common in my district and is representative of the experiences of communities across the country. This is why PFAS has been a priority of mine, and so many in this chamber on both sides of the aisle.
“The PFAS Action Act is a critically important bill. My bipartisan amendment will strengthen the legislation and address another element of this crisis: indirect discharges. Pulling from the PFAS Transparency Act, it would make it illegal for an industrial facility to introduce PFAS into a sewage treatment system without first disclosing information about that substance.
The legislation now goes to the U.S. Senate, where its likelihood of approval remains uncertain.