Governor Gretchen Whitmer joined 14 other governors this week to send a bipartisan letter to congress addressing PFAS. The letter encourages the United States Senate and the U.S. House Armed Services Committee to include several key PFAS provisions in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

At current and former military bases across the country, firefighting foam containing PFAS has been in use for many years. In many of these locations, PFAS have leached into groundwater, surface water, and nearby private wells used for drinking water. According to the Government Accountability Office, there are at least 401 military sites with known or suspected PFAS contamination.

The governors are urging the development of legislation that includes the strongest provisions from both the House and Senate bills, including the following that would:

• • Require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set an enforceable, nationwide drinking water standard within two years of enactment, while preserving states’ authority to enact their own, more stringent standards.
  • Require the EPA to list PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act within one year.
  • Require the EPA to revise the list of toxic pollutants under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to include PFAS and publish effluent and pretreatment standards.
  • Phase out the use of PFAS in aqueous film forming foam as quickly as possible.
  • Urge the Department of Defense (DoD) finalize cooperative agreements with states and partner with governors to test, monitor, remove, and remediate PFAS contamination originating from DoD activities. Require that if a cooperative agreement is not reached within one year of the request from a state, the Secretary of Defense must report to Congress with an explanation of why an agreement has not been reached.
  • Grant the National Guard Bureau access to specific environmental remediation program funding in FY 2020.
  • Authorize the U.S. Geological Survey to develop advanced testing methods capable of detecting PFAS, and to conduct nationwide sampling for these chemicals.
  • Require the DoD to treat and clean PFAS-contaminated water used for agricultural purposes.
  • Require public disclosure when environmental releases of about 200 PFAS chemicals occur.

To read the full letter, please click here.

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