VIDEO: During PFAS Solutions Hearing, Congresswoman Stansbury Calls for Expedited Cleanup, R&D
During a Research and Technology subcommittee hearing, Rep. Stansbury emphasized the need to research the impact of PFAS chemicals on water resources and exposed communities
VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/iQFq0YQlVow
WASHINGTON – During a Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Technology hearing this morning addressing research into and alternatives to PFAS chemicals, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) called for Congress to prioritize research funding that will ensure efficient and effective cleanup of PFAS contamination in light of the health and economic consequences to communities and water resources in southeastern New Mexico.
Researchers are still studying the effects of human-made chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Though PFAS chemicals have been used for cookware, firefighting foam, and other uses, significant concerns remain surrounding the toxicity and human health effects of PFAS, how to safely and effectively remove them from the environment, and how to detect and quantify the thousands of PFAS compounds that exist.
Dairy farms in New Mexico have been particularly affected following PFAS contamination from firefighting foam used at Cannon Air Force Base.
“In New Mexico, we have had devastating impacts from PFAS contamination, especially in Curry and Otero counties in the eastern side of our state where PFAS was used in firefighting foams at Cannon Air Force Base that has led to contaminated drinking water supplies, private wells and wells that supply dairies in the Ogallala Aquifer and also contamination at Holloman Air Force Base which has led to extensive groundwater contamination,” said Rep. Stansbury.
Rep. Stansbury continued by questioning witnesses before the committee, Dr. Peter Jaffé, Professor at the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princetown University, and Dr. Elsie Sunderland, Gordan McKay Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Harvard School of Public Health on appropriate measures to better understand PFAS contaminants. “How can we expedite and increase the speed of our understanding and our ability to measure these contaminants? And do remediation, especially in areas where there’s been large-scale spills?”
Dr. Sunderland responded, stating, “In terms of understanding and detecting PFAS, I think support for joint collaboration between the EPA and NIST is essential. So we need standard methods that fully capture all of the compounds that we know are used in commerce. And we're innovating on those detection methods and making sure they're usable in the field. And I think another component of this that you touched on is just understanding all the different types of PFAS sources. So there are efforts underway to integrate PFAS accounting into the Toxics Release Inventory and other databases and I think with support from all of you, those efforts could be accelerated.”
Dr. Jaffe responded, stating, “When we look at PFAS remediation right now, most of our efforts are site-specific where we have high concentrations of PFAS. When you're concerned about agricultural processes, dairy farms, we probably have very dispersed very low concentrations of PFAS, they may have been applied with a sewage sludge. And that's much much more challenging to remediate these large, large sites - we need to have more focused research. It could be the Department of Agriculture that focuses on how to make these PFAS less bioavailable so they don't go back into the food chain and how we may be able to sequester them. There could be methods-depending on which one-that you could mobilize the PFAS a little bit more so that they get out of the root zone. We don't have a good methodology to address that right now.”
Rep. Stansbury voted to pass the PFAS Action Act out of the House of Representatives in July. The bipartisan legislation establishes a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals, designates PFAS as hazardous to allow the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up contaminated sites in Michigan and across the country, as well as list PFAS under the Clean Water Act, limits industrial discharges, and provides $200 million annually to assist water utilities and wastewater treatment.