Groups Ask EPA To Include PFAS Chemicals In Superfund Law
by Brian Lawson for CBS 19 Huntsville / WHNT
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gets closer to formally regulating two well-known PFAS chemicals in drinking water – PFOA and PFOS – the agency has just finished taking comments on regulating seven additional PFAS chemicals, with an eye toward establishing Superfund cleanup sites where the chemicals are found.
Known as “forever chemicals” PFAS don’t easily break down in water and have been linked to a number of health effects. Among those commenting was an 88-member roster of non-profit and environmental groups including Tennessee Riverkeeper, who urged the agency to act.
Tennessee Riverkeeper founder David Whiteside, whose group sued and reached a cleanup settlement with 3M, wants the EPA to go further in the regulations.
“Tennessee Riverkeeper and 87 other nonprofit organizations approve the EPA adding these PFAS chemicals to the Superfund law,” he said. “Ultimately yes, it would provide more protection for public health, especially in terms of cleaning up some of the nation’s worst PFAS spots, in terms of PFAS contamination or also sites that don’t have a responsible party to clean them up.”