WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2021
Considered on the Floor Today:
H.R. 2467 – PFAS Action Act of 2021 (Rep. Dingell – Energy and Commerce)
H.R. 2467 is comprehensive legislation to regulate PFAS chemicals, clean up contamination, and protect public health. H.R. 2467 will provide the protections impacted communities need quickly and for the long term. The PFAS Action Act of 2021 would require EPA to use tools under several environmental statutes to:
- Stem the flow of PFAS contamination into the environment by requiring cleanup of sites contaminated with PFOA and PFOS, setting air emission limits, prohibiting unsafe incineration of PFAS, and limiting the introduction of new PFAS chemicals into commerce;
- Identify health risks by requiring comprehensive health testing for all PFAS, reporting of PFAS releases, and monitoring for PFAS in drinking water;
- Inform communities of PFAS risks by requiring the EPA Administrator to develop a risk-communication strategy and establish a website with information on testing of household well water; and
- Limit human exposure to PFAS by requiring a drinking water standard for PFAS that protects public health, including the health of vulnerable subpopulations like pregnant women, infants, and children, and holding polluters accountable. The legislation also provides grants to impacted water systems, creates a voluntary label for cookware that is PFAS free, provides guidance for first responders to limit their exposures, and requires effluent limitations and pretreatment standards for PFAS introduction or discharge.
The PFAS Action Act will generate and rely on science to address PFAS risks. To keep science at the forefront of decision-making, the bill directs EPA to:
- Address the two most studied PFAS, PFOA and PFOS, right away while requiring the development of needed health and safety studies on all other PFAS;
- Identify relevant subclasses of PFAS and tailor testing for those classes, recognizing that different types of PFAS may pose different risks and require different risk management approaches; and
- Meet deadlines for further regulatory decisions based on when that scientific data should be available, without predetermining what those decisions should be.
The Rule provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
The Rule makes in order the following amendments and allows for amendments to be offered en bloc:
En Bloc #1 (Kildee Amendment, Leger Fernandez Amendment, Levin (MI) Amendment, Ocasio-Cortez Amendment, Ross/Rouzer Amendment, San Nicolas Amendment, Sarbanes/Fitzpatrick Amendment, Slotkin Amendment #8, Slotkin/Meijer Amendment #9, Slotkin Amendment #10)
PASSED: 226-195
Kildee Amendment
Adds additional requirements for the website EPA is required to create to better help well water users test their water and understand the results.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Leger Fernandez Amendment
Ensures that testing under Sec. 3 and the risk communication strategy under Sec. 15 considers the risks PFAS poses to water used for agricultural purposes.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Levin (MI) Amendment
Establishes a new grant program to test for and remediate PFAS containments in the drinking water at school facilities, and authorizes $100 million to carry out that program for FY2022 through FY2026.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Ocasio-Cortez Amendment
Ensures that information on the Household Well Water Testing Website is presented in a manner that provides meaningful access to individuals with limited English proficiency.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Ross/Rouzer Amendment
Revises the PFAS Infrastructure Grant Program to allow applicants to certify that the treatment technology that was in use by the community water system on the date of enactment was not sufficient to remove all detectable amounts of PFAS.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
San Nicolas Amendment
Creates a minimum set aside for grants to insular territories within the emerging contaminants grants program.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Sarbanes/Fitzpatrick Amendment
Requires EPA to obtain analytical reference standards for PFAS for the development of protocols and methodologies and enforcement activities.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Slotkin Amendment #8
Increases the annual funding for the Assistance for Community Water Systems Affected by PFAS grant program.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Slotkin/Meijer Amendment #9
Adds to the Household Well Water Testing Website information about the health risks associated with exposure to PFAS-contaminated water as well as recommendations for individuals who believe they may have been exposed such PFAS-contaminated water.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Slotkin Amendment #10
Adds to the list of products covered by the PFAS-Free Product Labeling Program.
CONSIDERED EN BLOC
Mindi Messmer, PG, CG
Former New Hampshire House of Representatives
State House, Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs Committee