TITLE: EPA detected "forever chemicals" in water systems serving 46 million. Is yours on our map?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/11/11/pfas-forever-chemicals-detected-in-water-systems-that-serve-46-million/71528470007/
EXCERPT: Toxic “forever chemicals” have been found in more than one in four public drinking water systems this year in concentrations at or above the Environmental Protection Agency’s minimum reporting levels.
That’s according to new EPA data released Thursday, showing hundreds of water systems have detected PFAS. Together, these systems provide drinking water to about 46 million people.
Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, are a group of nearly indestructible chemicals that build up in the human body over time. They’ve been used widely for decades in nonstick and water-repellent household products, as well as industrial products.
One system included in the EPA’s data for the first time is in Augusta, Georgia, which detected six distinct PFAS contaminants. With industrial manufacturing, a major military base and a downtown factory that makes fire-retardant bricks, Augusta has multiple PFAS sources.
“There’s definitely things that do need to be improved, but there’s not, in our opinion, a health threat,” said Wes Byne, Augusta’s director of utilities. “Depending on who you talk to, the industry has tried to consider this (detection level) like a drop of water in the Rose Bowl.”
However, most of the PFAS detections in Augusta were well above the minimum levels at which the EPA requires communities to report. Georgia does not have binding maximum contaminant levels for the chemicals, and there are currently no enforceable national drinking water standards for PFAS. The technology needed to remove and destroy forever chemicals is costly – a major barrier for local water systems.
TITLE: These companies spent over $100 million to avoid accountability for drinking water contamination
http://popular.info/p/these-companies-spent-over-100-million
EXCERPT: Lobbying disclosures compiled by FWW finds that eight current and former PFAS manufacturers – 3M, Archroma, Chemours, Daikin, Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, and Solvay – “spent $55.7 million lobbying on PFAS and other issues.” Several of these companies have notably been accused of misleading the public on the risks of PFAS. Meanwhile, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), an industry trade association, also “lobbied on PFAS every quarter from 2019 to 2022, with reports mentioning PFAS totaling $58.7 million in lobbying expenditures.”
Prominent oil and gas companies, which frequently use PFAS in oil and gas drilling, have also joined this lobbying operation. FWW finds that, between 2019 and 2022, filings from BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell lobbyists that mention PFAS totaled $67 million in lobbying expenditures. Meanwhile, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) – the oil and gas industry’s largest trade groups – spent $11.8 million and $17 million respectively lobbying on PFAS and other issues.
The efforts proved successful. In the end, just four of the 130 bills introduced between 2019 and 2022 related to PFAS became law, FWW says. During that same time period, four provisions regarding PFAS were also included in the yearly military defense budget bill, including one that requires the Department of Defense to alert farms near military sites of potential PFAS contamination. Still, “none of these come close to stopping PFAS contamination or holding manufacturers and polluters accountable,” FWW writes.
At the center of the lobbying blitz was the PFAS Action Act — introduced in 2019 and 2021 — a sweeping bill that aimed to hold chemical companies accountable for PFAS contamination. The bill would have designated PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the EPA's Superfund – a program that has the power to force polluters to pay for the cleanup of toxic waste sites. The PFAS Action Act would have also required the EPA to set drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, and created a $200 million grant “for assisting wastewater treatment plants dealing with PFAS contamination.”
But in July 2021, a coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest corporate lobbying group, sent a letter to lawmakers urging opposition to the bill. The Chamber claimed, without any evidence, that the legislation “would delay and complicate contamination remediation issues.” The coalition, which included the AFPM and the API, had previously come out against calls to classify PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances. Among other things, the group took issue with the proposal’s “scope of liability,” which would hold polluting companies responsible for cleanup costs.
“This action could undercut our mutual goal of addressing PFAS releases promptly and effectively to protect human health and the environment,” the coalition wrote at the time. FWW notes that over the last two election cycles, the Chamber-led coalition has aggressively lobbied against PFAS regulation, spending $317 million on “PFAS bills and issues.”
Despite this, the PFAS Action Act received bipartisan support and, in July 2021, passed the House (It also passed the House in 2019). But the legislation eventually died in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. According to FWW, two-thirds of the committee’s current members have received campaign cash from PFAS manufacturers. Many of these lawmakers also received donations from the ACC and the Chamber-led coalition. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), for example, the ranking Republican on the committee, received more than $67,000 from PFAS manufacturers, the ACC, and the Chamber-led coalition between 2019 and 2022. Capito has continued to pursue legislation addressing PFAS contamination, but environmental groups worry her proposals are too watered-down to be effective.
TITLE: 3M, DuPont PFAS settlements called inadequate by cities, other objectors
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/3m-dupont-pfas-settlements-called-inadequate-by-cities-other-objectors-2023-11-13/
EXCERPT: The objections relate to a proposed deal between 3M and U.S. water providers for $10.3 billion and a separate $1.19 billion settlement agreed to by DuPont and spin-off companies Corteva (CTVA.N) and Chemours (CC.N) in June. Both settlements would end hundreds of lawsuits against the companies.
Many of the objectors said the settlement terms were too broad and could inappropriately release the companies from too much future potential liability over PFAS pollution — including for remediation of soil or wastewater contamination, and from some personal injury claims.
"The funds proposed are grossly inadequate," said the City of Dallas, Texas, asking the court to reject the settlements until fixes are made.
Similar arguments were made by others including Tacoma, Washington, Las Cruces, New Mexico, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which helps deliver water to 19 million people in the state.
Paul Napoli, an attorney with the law firm Napoli Shkolnik who negotiated the settlements on behalf of U.S. water providers, said in an email on Monday that he and other plaintiffs' attorneys take objections with "utmost seriousness." He said many of the concerns have already been resolved, or were raised by parties that are not members of the proposed class action settlements.
A DuPont spokesperson said the company is reviewing the objections and remains confident in the settlement.
A 3M spokesperson said its settlement would benefit water systems that provide drinking water to the "vast majority of Americans" without further litigation, and said the company would respond to the objections in court.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel, who is overseeing thousands of lawsuits against 3M, DuPont and others over PFAS contamination, granted preliminary approval for the two settlements in August.