2019 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2019 14:19:19 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] PFAS: Senators "Urge GAO to Study Federal Responsibilities for PFAS Cleanup"
 
Peters, Johnson & Carper Urge GAO to Study Federal Responsibilities for PFAS Cleanup


UP Matters (MI)
April 25, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), the Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Tom Carper (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today requested a review of the estimated costs to the federal government to clean up contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used effectively and efficiently in cleanup efforts. In a bipartisan letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the senators also requested information about ongoing federal agency efforts to address contamination and additional research needed to ensure the federal government can adequately address the threat posed by exposure to these toxic chemicals.                                             

“PFAS chemicals have been found in people, animals, and drinking water, and they typically originate from a nearby facility, such as a manufacturing plant, landfill, wastewater treatment plant, military installation, or firefighter training facility,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Many of these facilities are on federally-owned or operated property. In particular, U.S. service members and their families are likely to have been disproportionately exposed to PFOA/PFOS because of the military’s use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), which contains the highly fluorinated chemicals as a fire-fighting agent. DOD has identified 401 active or closed installations with known or suspected releases.”

The senators’ requests follows a recommendation from the GAO’s annual “High Risk List,” which found that the federal government needed to take steps to address its environmental liabilities. PFAS are a group of approximately 4,700 chemicals that have been used for decades in firefighting foams and commercial applications. Some of the chemicals have been linked to a wide variety of thyroid, kidney, liver, heart, reproductive and autoimmune problems.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.upmatters.com/news/local-news/peters-johnson-carper-urge-gao-to-study-federal-responsibilities-for-pfas-cleanup/1954171863

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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