Pappas Helps Introduce PFAS Action Act

Last week, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) helped introduce the PFAS Action Act alongside Representatives Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and Pat Ryan (NY-18). The PFAS Action Act is comprehensive, bipartisan legislation that would protect Americans and our environment from forever chemicals by establishing a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals, accelerating the designation of PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances, limiting industrial discharge, and providing communities with resources to support water utilities and wastewater treatment, among other provisions. Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) is also an original cosponsor of this legislation. 

Notably, the PFAS Action Act contains Congressman Pappas’s Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act. Pappas’s legislation, and his provisions included in this legislation, would regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals under the Clean Water Act to curb the ability for manufacturers and other polluters to contaminate our nation’s waterways with toxic levels of PFAS.

“Toxic forever chemicals such as PFAS continue to pose health risks to communities across New Hampshire and the entire country,” said Congressman Pappas. “I’m proud to help introduce the bipartisan PFAS Action Act to stop PFAS from polluting our water, land, and air while cleaning up contamination in the environment. I’m committed to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle until no one worries that their water is unsafe or that PFAS contamination will harm their family.”

The PFAS Action Act would do the following to protect our air, land, and water from harmful PFAS contamination:

• Require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a national drinking water standard for PFOA, PFOS and four other PFAS chemicals that protects public health, including the health of vulnerable subpopulations. This provision aligns with EPA’s recent national drinking water standard proposal.
• Accelerate designation of PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances, which EPA has recently proposed, and requires EPA to determine whether to list other PFAS within five years. The bill reaffirms that EPA has existing authority to use their discretion regarding liability under CERCLA and rejects liability exemptions for specific industries in line with the introduced bill last Congress.
• Designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous air pollutants within 180 days and require EPA to determine whether to list other PFAS within five years.
• Require EPA to place discharge limits on industrial releases of PFAS and provides $200 million annually for wastewater treatment.
• Prohibit unsafe incineration of PFAS wastes and place a moratorium on the introduction of new PFAS into commerce.
• Require comprehensive PFAS health testing.
• Create a voluntary label for PFAS in cookware.
• Assist schools and childcare facilities with addressing PFAS contamination in drinking water.
• Require manufacturers to provide reference standards for PFAS in order to help the agency accurately identify and act faster to mitigate the impact of dangerous forever chemicals.

The PFAS Action Act is supported by the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, the Green Science Policy Institute, the Environmental Working Group, Consumer Reports, Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund, the League of Conservation Voters, Less Cancer, the Sierra Club, EarthJustice, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Toxic-Free Future (Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families), the National Wildlife Federation, Food & Water Watch, the Environmental Defense Fund Action, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center.