$20 billion bill proposed to clean up PFAS water contamination nationally
12 Mar 2020 | Union Leader
“While enforceable drinking water, clean water standards and the designation of the most harmful PFAS under the Superfund law are all urgently needed measures to address widespread contamination near military installations or other sites, communities will continue to need funding to remediate contamination and keep drinking water clean for years to come,” Carper said in a statement.
New federal law requires PFAS users to report to EPA
11 Mar 2020 | JDSupra
Facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise annually use more than 100 lbs of any listed PFAS must submit annual reports to EPA. EPA is authorized to lower reporting thresholds in the future. The first reports for calendar year 2020 are due July 1, 2021.
Landmark legal settlement as government pays $212m to victims of toxic contamination
11 Mar 2020 | The Sydney Morning Herald
The federal government will pay out $212.5 million to settle three class actions launched by victims of toxic firefighting contamination across Australia.
Two Senate bills target chemicals found in firefighting foam
9 Mar 2020 | California Globe
Two bills that call for the partial banning and water testing of chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were introduced to the Californian Senate.
Indiana-based companies in charge of incinerating military’s PFAS firefighting foam stockpiles
9 Mar 2020 | Indiana Environmental Reporter
Two Indiana-based hazardous waste treatment companies are playing a leading role nationally in the incineration of the U.S. military’s stockpiles of toxic firefighting foam and have landed in the middle of a legal battle.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin to highlight PFAS legislation at Oakland County forum
5 Mar 2020 | The Oakland Press
The Test Your Well Water Act would require the U.S. EPA to create an online tool on it's website for Americans with private wells to find resources to test their drinking water and understand what those results mean.
Fighting forever chemicals
5 Mar 2020 | WQP
Advanced oxidation holds what may be the best hope for a solution that permanently removes PFAS from the environment. However, the energy level needed to break the fluorine carbon bonds is very high, and to date no commercially viable advanced oxidation process has been demonstrated.
Court links toxic foam to cancer in legal blow to government
5 Mar 2020 | The Sydney Morning Herald
A landmark finding that there is "good evidence" toxic firefighting chemicals could potentially cause harmful health effects including cancer has undercut the federal government’s claim the risks are "minimal" and left it exposed to the threat of millions of dollars in legal payouts.
Municipalities want more help addressing ‘forever chemicals’
4 Mar 2020 | Associated Press (NBC Connecticut)
The largest organization of cities and towns in Connecticut has called on the state and businesses to provide them with more help in addressing the expensive environmental fallout from PFAS.
Press release: Study: PFAS act similar to known cancer-causing chemicals
4 Mar 2020 | EWG Press Release
A review of 26 PFAS found that they all display at least one characteristic of known human carcinogens.
Air Force allocates $13.5 million toward Oscoda PFAS remediation
3 Mar 2020 | Iosco News
“When it comes to our water, we need to think about environmental security the way we think about homeland security...” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) expressed.
Officials seek to prohibit incineration of firefighting foam
3 Mar 2020 | Troy Record
Despite the fact that the safety of incineration as a method to dispose of PFAS firefighting foam is still being evaluated by the US EPA, the DOD entered into a contract with the Norlite facility in Cohoes, to incinerate PFAS firefighting foam without appropriate environmental review and was previously incinerating PFAS foam at the facility.
DuPont owes $50 million in PFAS cancer cases, jury finds
3 Mar 2020 | Bloomberg Environment
This combined trial is the first since the company entered a $670.7 million settlement to end roughly 3,500 pending cases in 2017 for plaintiffs seeking damages. These verdicts now set the tone for roughly 50 other suits piling up in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
Press release: Cleaning products could expose children to dangerous contaminants at child care facilities
2 Mar 2020 | IU Bloomington Press Release
The researchers were surprised that some PFAS were present in the dust at child care facilities at levels higher than in homes in the U.S. and Canada. Even more surprising was that the dust contained unexpectedly high levels of fluorotelomer sulfonates, a class of PFAS used in cleaners, waxes and polishes.
First batch of Pellston water tests detect PFAS in some area wells
29 Feb 2020 | Up North Live
Bottled water if need is being provided and plumbers are being scheduled so filters can be installed on any home that has detections.