[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: "EPA says Tucson’s [AZ] drinking water is contaminated but air force claims agency lacks authority to order cleanup "

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

US air force avoids PFAS water cleanup, citing supreme court’s Chevron ruling
EPA says Tucson’s drinking water is contaminated but air force claims agency lacks authority to order cleanup

By Tom Perkins
Guardian
August 12, 2024

The US air force is refusing to comply with an order to clean drinking water it polluted in Tucson, Arizona, claiming federal regulators lack authority after the conservative-dominated US supreme court overturned the “Chevron doctrine”. Air force bases contaminated the water with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds.

Though former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and legal experts who reviewed the air force’s claim say the Chevron doctrine ruling probably would not apply to the order, the military’s claim that it would represents an early indication of how polluters will wield the controversial court decision to evade responsibility.

It appears the air force is essentially attempting to expand the scope of the court’s ruling to thwart regulatory orders not covered by the decision, said Deborah Ann Sivas, director of the Stanford University Environmental Law Clinic.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/12/air-force-epa-water-pfas-tucson

—

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
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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