On Thursday, July 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated recommendations under the Clean Water Act, adding twelve versions of PFAS to the contaminant list along with amphetamine, three cyanotoxins, a flame retardant, and lead. The EPA noted that these are all pollutants that states, territories, and Tribes are recommended to monitor in local freshwater fish. The next day, House Republicans sent a letter to the EPA questioning “the scope of any new designations” in regard to addressing more versions of PFAS — there are nearly 15,000 known versions (or chemical cousins) which also go by Gen X, PFOA, PFOS, PFCs, etc. — under the federal Superfund law.
Chemours, a chemical company founded in 2015 as a spinoff of the DuPont manufacturing giant, attempted to challenge the EPA in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Tuesday, July 23, the case was tossed out by Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman, who wrote that this could not be challenged in court because “it was not a final agency action,” according to Brendan Pierson, reporting for Reuters. In a statement, Chemours said it was disappointed but looks forward to challenging the EPA’s PFAS rules again in a Washington, D.C. appeals court.
Last November, it was noted in a report from Food & Water Watch, that chemical lobbyists were going after bills during the last two election cycles, spending more than $100 million. Of the 130 bills proposed, only 8 made it through the lawmaking process, according to a report from the Guardian. According to Canada’s National Observer, the same tactics are being used to fight Canadian federal regulation attempts.
Two farm bills are gaining traction through the U.S. House and Senate to address “forever chemicals” in agriculture. According to Waste Dive, the House version of the bill aims to allocate grant funding to research the impact of PFAS in compost. The Senate version of the bill will add “PFAS agricultural effects” to the funding list via the High-Priority Research and Extension Initiative. The Senate’s draft of the Farm Bill includes language from the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act, which would allocate $500 million in funds towards helping farmers offset financial losses due to poisoned crops and livestock. Once these bills are approved, the two chambers will create a committee to write a compromise of the two bills.
Meanwhile, emerging data shows just how common perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are in pesticides that have been approved for use on U.S. farms. This new blow comes after last year, when the U.S. Department of Defense noted that 4,000 farms have potentially been contaminated by “forever chemicals,” due to their proximity to military bases.
More PFAS news, in case you missed it:
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is taking public comment until August 15 on a proposed wastewater permit to mitigate PFAS at chemical giant, 3M’s Cottage Grove plant.
- A study at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is tracking to see how PFAS impacts the survival of fish.
- Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found two versions of PFAS affected heart health in older women. PFOS were associated with coronary artery disease, while PFOA was more prognostic of coronary microvascular disease.
- Firefighters in Indiana are invited to join a biomonitoring pilot program through the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. The program has room for about one-fifth of the state’s firefighting population, and applications are open until August 9.
- Aerobic and anaerobic bacteria are shown to break down PFAAS (a chemical cousin of PFAS) in a lab study. Biodegradation could be a sustainable alternative for this chemical remediation, though it’s noted how manufacturing reduction needs to happen concurrently.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
Featured image: The former Wurtsmith Air Force base in Oscoda, Michigan is responsible for PFAS in groundwater in nearby communities. (Great Lakes Now Episode 1025)
