Some bottled water brands have concerning PFAS levels, Massachusetts regulator warns
12 Jul 2019 | Consumer Reports
There’s evidence that PFAS contamination may also be a concern in bottled water. Some bottled waters sourced from Spring Hill Farm Dairy in Haverhill, Mass., contain PFAS chemicals at levels higher than recommended for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding or for bottle-fed infants, according to a July 2 advisory from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Mediation proposed for Wolverine PFAS municipal water dispute
11 Jul 2019 | MLive
Wolverine World Wide will enter ‘structured, confidential’ mediation under proposed settlement discussions with the state of Michigan and two Kent County townships, which want the shoemaker to pay for extending municipal water to areas where its tannery waste has contaminated the groundwater.
Trump promises to veto a bill banning the military from using toxic products with PFAS
11 Jul 2019 | Pacific Standard
US President Donald Trump threatened to veto a defense spending bill with an amendment that restricts the use of a toxic chemical compound found in firefighting foams. Several provisions in the bill, introduced in the House of Representatives, would require the United States Department of Defense to switch to safer foams without PFAS... The bill would also require the military to pay to clean up sites where its activities have contaminated the water, including farms and watersheds, and classify the areas as Superfund sites.
Grayling homeowners cope with water contamination
10 Jul 2019 | Record Eagle
A toxic plume of PFAS chemicals currently seeps through the groundwater and into local surface waters, the result of decades of using and training with firefighting foam at Camp Grayling, the primary training facility for the Michigan National Guard and the largest U.S. National Guard training installation.
A vote this week may help launch changes to federal PFAS oversight
10 Jul 2019 | MLive
Congress is looking at a wave of proposed PFAS legislation, including several amendments added to the military spending bill for 2020. If the U.S. House of Representatives votes as expected this week on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, environmental proponents say, they’re likely to include measures that would strengthen PFAS requirements for the federal government and military...
New York proposes new drinking water standards for 3 chemicals
9 Jul 2019 | Newsday
The state Department of Health recommended new drinking water standards for three chemicals... the first time in nearly 20 years new contaminants would be regulated in New York. The proposed limit for 1,4-dioxane of 1 ppb would be a first in the nation... PFOS and PFOA each would be limited to 10 ppt...
PFAS sleuths seek ‘forever chemical’ fingerprints
9 Jul 2019 | Bloomberg Environment
Scientists push to identify sources of PFAS contamination. Stronger evidence could bolster hundreds of lawsuits, regulatory cleanup...
New York to set limits for industrial chemicals in water
8 Jul 2019 | Associated Press
Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has accepted the New York State Drinking Water Quality Council’s recommendations for limits of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water...
3M to test for more chemicals leaking into river in Decatur
8 Jul 2019 | Alabama Media Group
3M has agreed to test three closed landfills near its Decatur plant on the Tennessee River to see whether they may still be releasing PFOA and PFOS into the river or groundwater.
3M stock is the biggest loser in the Dow today. This is why
5 Jul 2019 | Barron’s
3M has hit a rough patch, facing new environmental liabilities at the same time that global economic growth is slowing. The concerns have led investors to sell 3M stock (ticker: MMM), driving down its price by more than 20% from its 52-week high.
Farmers losing everything after ‘forever chemicals’ turned up in their food
2 Jul 2019 | BuzzFeed News
’Forever chemicals’ linked to cancer are turning up in farm produce across the country, leading farms to lay off workers, incinerate cranberry harvests, kill cows, and dump thousands of gallons of dairy milk. Such long-lived "fluorinated" compounds have been measured in the drinking water in over 600 locations in 43 states, near factories or military bases that use them in firefighting foams…
Michigan proposes strong, yet incomplete PFAS protections
1 Jul 2019 | NRDC Expert Blog
Michigan is proposing some of the most health-protective standards in the nation for several PFAS—yet could be missing out on the opportunity to protect its citizens in the long-term. Michigan has performed the most comprehensive PFAS monitoring in the nation, and the state has begun taking steps to protect it citizens from the health risk these dangerous ‘forever’ chemicals pose. Among the monitoring results, it was discovered that over 100 of their public water systems are contaminated with PFAS—affecting approximately 1.5 million of its citizens…
Chemours says DuPont lowballed environmental liabilities
1 Jul 2019 | Washington Post
Chemours, a spinoff of DuPont’s Performance Chemicals unit, filed a recently unsealed lawsuit against DuPont, claiming that the maximum liability exposure figures that DuPont certified prior to the spinoff have proven to be “systematically and spectacularly wrong.”
Guam: Senators defy governor’s call to vote quickly on water contamination lawsuit bill
1 Jul 2019 | Pacific Daily News
Most senators on Monday defied Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s call for an immediate vote and request for waiver of the public hearing requirement on a bill that would authorize the hiring of specialized lawyers to help Guam in a potential drinking water contamination lawsuit… The governor seeks Guam's inclusion in multi-state lawsuits against manufacturers of chemicals that she said have been known to contaminate drinking water across the nation...
Senate vote requires military, EPA to deal with harmful 'forever chemicals'
27 Jun 2019 | The Hill
The Senate passed the 2020 Defense Spending Bill including a bipartisan amendment that would commission the U.S. Geological Survey to track PFAS contamination nationwide and require public utilities to test drinking water for PFAS. The House is expected to vote on this legislation in July.