[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: Conference committee removes some provisions for Defense Authorization Act

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

PFAS provisions cut from defense bill

By Garret Ellison 
MLive (MI)
December 6, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC - Language that would have given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to order cleanups at sites contaminated with toxic PFAS chemicals has been dropped from the annual defense spending bill in Congress.

According to capitol news outlets, Democrats have agreed to advance the “must pass” 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, without provisions regulating PFAS in toxic site cleanups or drinking water in order to meet a legislative conference deadline.

The annual NDAA was being used as a vehicle to advance several pieces of PFAS legislation, due in part, to widespread pollution caused by the military’s use of toxic AFFF firefighting foam.

Designating the chemicals as a “hazardous substance” under the federal Superfund law, known by the acronym CERCLA, is necessary before the EPA can order the U.S. Department of Defense or any other polluter to clean up water or soil with PFAS contamination.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/12/pfas-provisions-cut-from-defense-bill.html

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





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