Re: [CPEO-MEF] PFCs: Military contamination of America's drinking water - how bad is it?

["Steinberg, Barry P." <Barry.Steinberg@KutakRock.com>]

Rob,


To be clear, I share your concern that PFOS, PFOA, and the other PFC contaminants represent a serious health concern. I do not have the skill sets to digest the science behind establishing acceptable levels. Obviously, none is better than some. Where the regulatory standards are set is in that category of skill sets that I do not have. But I have seen enough information to satisfy me to get rid of non-stick pans that use PFCs.


My concern about the quoted statement, however, is not about the risk of exposure to PFCs. I have already made that determination, as have many others. Rather, I focus of the statement "most carcinogenic substances known." That seems to be a comparative observation, but compared to what? And is it based on length of exposure, concentration, or both?  Is it worse than perchlorates, TCE, et cet.? How does it compare to cancer causing substances on the linked website:




https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/general-info/known-and-probable-human-carcinogens.html


Barry


Barry P. Steinberg
Partner
Kutak Rock LLP
Washington, D.C.
________________________________
From: Rob Allen <euphman1@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 4, 2017 10:15 PM
To: Steinberg, Barry P.
Cc: Lenny Siegel; Military Environmental Forum
Subject: Re: [CPEO-MEF] PFCs: Military contamination of America's drinking water - how bad is it?

Here is a good basic resource on this topic, and why, in his opinion, the EPA guideline of 70ppt is way too high.

Note - this is online. This came out of the water quality hearings that were held in NY state, as part of the Hoosick Falls water fiasco. If you want the link to the full testimony, just ask or google "New York Senate Water Quality Hearings"

https://www.nysenate.gov/sites/default/files/11_hf_michaels_testimony_part_1_oral_statement.pdf<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nysenate.gov_sites_default_files_11-5Fhf-5Fmichaels-5Ftestimony-5Fpart-5F1-5Foral-5Fstatement.pdf&d=DwMFaQ&c=CMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v_02OUU55A&r=cPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE&m=zPud_aasCgnfPBn6YXnZ3NnT8JQPcmiQ9_hIPKje41w&s=FOAU8E0s4s6ak7PmtdGE1yqkD9l105W1GP4tyHhll4Q&e=>

-Rob Allen

On Mar 4, 2017, at 11:33 AM, Steinberg, Barry P. <Barry.Steinberg@KutakRock.com<mailto:Barry.Steinberg@KutakRock.com>> wrote:

What is the basis for this statement:

The perfluorinated compounds in this foam are among the most carcinogenic substances known.

?If this is scientifically true (and not just hyperbole), then why has EPA failed to designate PFCs as a CERCLA hazardous substance, rather than addressing the issue under the Safe Drinking Water Act? If the statement is not scientifically established, then we should be careful about what is "known".

The implications for recourse under CERCLA are significantly different from those under the SDWA.

Barry Steinberg





Barry P. Steinberg
Partner
Kutak Rock LLP
Washington, D.C.
________________________________
From: Military <military-bounces@lists.cpeo.org<mailto:military-bounces@lists.cpeo.org>> on behalf of Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org<mailto:LSiegel@cpeo.org>>
Sent: Friday, March 3, 2017 4:45 PM
To: Military Environmental Forum
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] PFCs: Military contamination of America's drinking water - how bad is it?

Begin forwarded message:


Dear Friends and Colleagues,

With the recent announcement of contamination of potentially an entire city's drinking water on Whidbey Island, by a mile-long plume emanating in multiple directions from the Navy base and from their OLF-Coupeville runway, we wondered: what's likely to happen now? Will the Navy clean up their mess? So we did some research, and were shocked by the extent of the problem. The answer is: probably not much will be done, except to monitor it and continue with the Navy-supplied bottled water. We found that at least 6 million people in 33 states (not counting international locations) are dealing with contamination of their drinking water by chemicals in Aqueous Film-Forming Foam used by the US military for firefighting and training. The perfluorinated compounds in this foam are among the most carcinogenic substances known. This is a recently emerging issue to the public, but the military's knowledge that the chemicals are harmful is apparently decades old. For what it's worth, while
the foam is used at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in conjunction with the Growler jets, the Navy's most recent Growler EIS did not mention perfluorinated compound use or contamination.

Here's the story:  http://westcoastactionalliance.org/military-contamination-of-americas-drinking-water-how-bad-is-it<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__westcoastactionalliance.org_military-2Dcontamination-2Dof-2Damericas-2Ddrinking-2Dwater-2Dhow-2Dbad-2Dis-2Dit&d=DwMFAg&c=CMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v_02OUU55A&r=cPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE&m=j0xEQ_ZgoJM3svpzDYVEuj-iiDC9RMukTefjzRSIjrw&s=CTGC55CoFtnu_bOb87TxEH1QZnonFO5duCOtSPImcx4&e=><https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__westcoastactionalliance.org_military-2Dcontamination-2Dof-2Damericas-2Ddrinking-2Dwater-2Dhow-2Dbad-2Dis-2Dit-253Chttps-3A__urldefense.proofpoint.com_v2_url-3Fu-3Dhttp-2D3A-5F-5Fwestcoastactionalliance.org-5Fmilitary-2D2Dcontamination-2D2Dof-2D2Damericas-2D2Ddrinking-2D2Dwater-2D2Dhow-2D2Dbad-2D2Dis-2D2Dit-26d-3DDwMFAg-26c-3DCMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v-5F02OUU55A-26r-3DcPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE-26m-3Dj0xEQ-5FZgoJM3svpzDYVEuj-2DiiDC9
 RMukTefjzRSIjrw-26s-3DCTGC55CoFtnu-5FbOb87TxEH1QZnonFO5duCOtSPImcx4-26e-3D-253E&d=DwMFaQ&c=CMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v_02OUU55A&r=cPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE&m=zPud_aasCgnfPBn6YXnZ3NnT8JQPcmiQ9_hIPKje41w&s=AtfjdReb3mEDcPczhA930twu97_nW48hrzPbT3TTZYg&e=>

It's a thorny problem that will require political and/or legislative action and new policy. Some state legislatures are passing laws, but a national approach is warranted, given the size of the problem. An organization called the Center for Public Environmental Oversight has been extremely helpful in tracking these contamination issues: http://cpeo.org<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cpeo.org_&d=DwMFAg&c=CMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v_02OUU55A&r=cPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE&m=j0xEQ_ZgoJM3svpzDYVEuj-iiDC9RMukTefjzRSIjrw&s=-2lCaXjczJjAkWXBxiJ4goSwF-2mGxqMcxkO36Mr664&e=><https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__cpeo.org-253Chttps-3A__urldefense.proofpoint.com_v2_url-3Fu-3Dhttp-2D3A-5F-5Fcpeo.org-5F-26d-3DDwMFAg-26c-3DCMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v-5F02OUU55A-26r-3DcPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE-26m-3Dj0xEQ-5FZgoJM3svpzDYVEuj-2DiiDC9RMukTefjzRSIjrw-26s-3D-2D2lCaXjczJjAkWXBxiJ4goSwF-2D2mGxqMcxkO36Mr664-26e-3D-253E&;
 d=DwMFaQ&c=CMYNxKEx9XwzkNg9QU6ZcPKnuXk0aDlw3v_02OUU55A&r=cPADXnjO9PjB3Cc9zszcxzExNPubhssPvEXY7tS0ywE&m=zPud_aasCgnfPBn6YXnZ3NnT8JQPcmiQ9_hIPKje41w&s=hyyey5JQpKtDzhRRMkDn1u59lZAmZOjlNZrE0aOswpU&e=>

You are welcome to share this email with others, but I ask that you remove my email address if you use it in a mailing list.

Thank you for your continued efforts to hold our government accountable; your voice is needed now more than ever before.

Sincerely,
Karen


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