On Wednesday, December 5, the Biden administration updated the New Chemicals Regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to reporting by Rachel Frazin of The Hill, this aims to prevent a family of chemicals (or chemical cousins) known as PFAS from being approved through Low Volume Exemptions, “abridged reviews given to chemicals that will only be produced in small quantities.”
Meanwhile, according to recent reporting from The Guardian, the incoming chair of the Senate environmental committee said in a hearing last week that she would target portions of new PFAS regulations.
More on this from The Guardian’s Tom Perkins:
“Moore Capito repeated claims from many of those polluters, some of whom are among her largest campaign donors, alleging the rules were developed off of bad science, and are too expensive for many water utilities to implement. Documents show trade groups representing water utilities are already lobbying Moore Capito and the incoming Trump team to undo the rules.”
As the partisan battle around PFAS wages on in the federal government, a Minnesota landfill will begin collecting geothermal heat from its decomposing garbage, to treat leachate at a nearby wastewater treatment plant. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) will be treated there with filters and other technology, according to reporting by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), wastewater stream cleanup will cost between $14 and 28 billion, with drinking water likely exceeding $1 billion. Minnesota cities, Lake Elmo and Hastings, still face astronomical expenses after years of fighting for remediation funds for PFAS. This is why the Hastings City Council is considering a 10% increase in January for water billing, to pay for new treatment plants. Reporting from local television station KARE said officials won’t officially vote until a meeting later this month.
“Those responsible for the contamination of the drinking water should be those that pay for the improvements to provide safe drinking water to those residents,” said Kirk Koudelka, assistant commissioner of the MPCA, in an interview with WCCO-TV.
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, will lead a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research project after winning a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Scientists will gather data about the risks of irrigation using sewage effluent, to understand plant uptake of “forever chemicals.” The aim is to help inform regulators, while exploring ways to reduce PFAS from entering the food chain.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint) introduced legislation to create a new position in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The aim is to improve transparency while speeding up remediation efforts and “uplifting the voices of communities contaminated with PFAS,” according to Kyle Davidson at the Michigan Advance.
While the Pentagon is hoping send “forever chemicals” to a plant in Ohio, to be incinerated where reporting says prevailing winds may carry those fumes across the Ohio River and into Pennsylvania’s Beaver and Allegheny counties, a West Virginia environmental group is going to federal court to sue Chemours for the amount of “forever chemicals” seeping into the Ohio River in Wood County.
More PFAS news in case you missed it:
- Watch PBS NewsHour’s saved livestream of last week’s Senate committee hearing on the public health impact of PFAS.
- Mark Ruffalo pressures Biden to take action on “forever chemicals” before the Trump transition.
- Study shows that makeup, hair dye and fragrance products are linked to increased levels of PFAS in breast milk.
- Texas farmers say sewage-based fertilizer tainted with “forever chemicals” poisoned their land and killed their livestock.
- One study suggests that microplastics and PFAS, when mixed together, become more dangerous to human health.
Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:
PFAS Roundup: Minnesota PFAS regulation said to be the strictest
Featured image: PFAS foam on a beach near the decommissioned Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Iosco County, Mich. (Great Lakes Now Episode 1025)
