EPA’s PFAS Action Plan: A lot of hot air, but no clean water

I attended the announcement of EPA’s much ballyhooed PFAS action plan in Philadelphia today. It is all talk and no action. Nine months after committing to hold polluters accountable by listing PFAS as a hazardous substance and setting an enforceable maximum contaminant limit for PFAS in drinking water, EPA has done…nothing.

Seven Months ago, people from Warminster, Warrington and Horsham Townships went to a “listening session” to tell  EPA what needed to be done. People whose families have been ravaged by cancer and other dread diseases, people whose private wells have been poisoned, people whose stay awake nights concerned about the health of their children, all told EPA we need to set an enforceable drinking water standard that will protect the most vulnerable and susceptible members of our society. Managers from the three townships described f how they went $15 million out of pocket to deliver safe water to their residents—money that was not reimbursed by the polluters because PFAS is not regulated as a hazardous substance.

They same things occurred at other listening sessions throughout the US.

What is EPA doing?

When will we have an MCL? At the end of this year, EPA may propose one.

When will PFAS be listed as a hazardous substance? The “anticipated time frame” for that is “ongoing”. In other words, don’t hold your breath.

As a charter member of Buxmont Coalition for Safer Water, I  will continue this fight before Governor Wolf’s action committee.

Pasted below are links to reactions from other environmental organizations.

Delaware Riverkeeper Network:

http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/sites/default/files/DRN%20statement%20PFAS%202.14.2019.pdf

Earthjustice’s press release is here: https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/wheeler-s-nationwide-pfas-action-plan-fails-communities

Here’s NRDC statement and blog

Here is the EWG statement

Additional News Links Mentioning Mark Cuker:

EPA ‘moving forward’ with PFAS process

‘We’re moving as quickly as we can’: EPA announces plan to address PFAS water contamination

Editorial: EPA spins its wheels on PFAS (The Intelligencer)