Tag: PFAS

Shepherdstown’s Byrd Center Hosts Panel On Forever Chemical Regulation

These chemicals are called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS. Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties are considered one of the PFAS “hot zones,” with unsafe levels found in 21 raw water supplies in these areas. 

Advocates held a community forum in Shepherdstown Wednesday to discuss potential action to regulate harmful “forever chemicals.” 

These chemicals are called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS. Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties are considered one of the PFAS “hot zones,” with unsafe levels found in 21 raw water supplies in these areas. 

Statewide, PFAS chemicals have been found in 130 water supplies, with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Health and Human Resources currently testing the state’s treated water systems as well. 

Panelists, including West Virginia Rivers Coalition scientist Jenna Dodson, explained what that meant to concerned citizens.

“They’re in our waterways, it’s in our soil, it’s in our air because it also travels via air deposition,” Dodson said. “And so that’s why they’re so ubiquitous and again, localized contamination can occur.”

PFAS have been used to manufacture industrial products, like firefighting foam, as well as consumer products.

“Things that you would have around the household, like nonstick cookware and any water resistant outdoor jackets you might have, food packaging and popcorn bags and carpet and Scotchgard and all these different kinds of products,” Dodson said. “And so these products end up in landfills, many of them can have leachate that gets into the groundwater and percolates through the soil.”

Legislators introduced a bill in the state Senate Thursday that would see manufacturers self-report their usage of PFAS. It was sent to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee for discussion. A similar bill is set to be introduced in the House of Delegates.

State To Receive $26 Million In EPA Grants For Drinking Water

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will get $18 million for low-interest financing to plan, design and construct eligible drinking water projects.

West Virginia is getting grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mostly to improve drinking water.

The state will receive more than $26 million from the EPA, according to U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will get $18 million for low-interest financing to plan, design and construct eligible drinking water projects.

The agency will get another $7.5 million to address the contamination of drinking water with PFAS, or forever chemicals. A report from the U.S. Geological Survey found PFAS in 67 of West Virginia’s drinking water systems.

The Fayette County Commission will receive a grant to address brownfield properties. West Virginia University will receive a pollution prevention grant.

The grants are from last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

'Forever Chemicals' Found In 67 Of State's Drinking Water Systems

The clusters were concentrated in the Ohio River valley and the Eastern Panhandle.

A new report has found “forever chemicals” in dozens of the state’s drinking water systems.

The U.S. Geological Survey detected at least one kind of PFAS in 67 of West Virginia’s drinking water systems.

Of those, 20 were from surface-water sources and the remaining 47 were from groundwater.

The clusters were concentrated in the Ohio River valley and the Eastern Panhandle.

PFAS are synthetic chemicals that don’t break down in the environment. They’re used to make common products such as nonstick cookware, firefighting foam and stain-resistant fabrics.

Recent health advisories from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency say any detectable amounts of them in drinking water endangers human health.

The EPA last week announced a proposal to designate certain types of PFAS as hazardous under federal law.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of last year includes up to $5 billion to remove PFAS from drinking water.

The report was the result of Senate Concurrent Resolution 46 from the state legislature’s 2020 session.

‘Soup Of Nasty Contaminants’ In South Charleston Site, Expert Says

Scott Simonton, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at Marshall University, said drums of industrial waste buried in the Filmont landfill present an 'alarming' risk to the environment.

An expert witness in a federal trial testified that “a soup of nasty contaminants” is leaking from a South Charleston landfill chemical company Union Carbide owns.

Scott Simonton, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at Marshall University, said drums of industrial waste buried in the Filmont Landfill present an “alarming” risk to the environment.

“What we don’t know is the full nature and extent of those contaminants, how far they’ve gone, what they turn into, you know, where they go, how deep they go, how far downstream they go,” Simonton told the U.S. District Court in Charleston Monday.

Simonton added that a full remedial investigation needed to be done to properly gauge the risk of the contamination, which likely traces to waste materials produced at the former Union Carbide South Charleston plant.

Previously, a remediation specialist for Union Carbide, now part of Dow Chemical, testified that there were no hazardous materials buried at the site. It was an active dump from the 1950s to the 1980s.

The specialist, Jerome Cibrik, also said company risk assessments of ecological and human health concluded that no further action needed to be taken.

Simonton was testifying on behalf of Courtland Co., which owns property adjacent to the site and is suing Union Carbide over the contamination. Courtland has filed four lawsuits against Union Carbide since 2018, alleging the landfill violates state and federal clean water laws.

Simonton further testified that levels of methane present in soil samples at the site presented a potential explosion risk to workers.

He also said the water at the site tested for PFAS — also known as forever chemicals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently concluded that nearly any level of exposure to PFAS in drinking water is a health risk.

A local ordinance prohibits the extraction of groundwater around industrial sites. But Simonton described how insects, animals and people can still be exposed to pollutants through the food chain.

EPA Dramatically Lowers Guidance For Some PFAS In Drinking Water

In 2016, the EPA advised that exposure to certain synthetic chemicals known as PFAS be limited to 70 parts per trillion. On Wednesday, the EPA lowered that guidance to under 1 part per trillion.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its guidance for “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

In 2016, the EPA advised that exposure to certain synthetic chemicals known as PFAS be limited to 70 parts per trillion. On Wednesday, the EPA lowered that guidance to under 1 part per trillion.

PFAS may cause cancer, damage to the liver and immune system, and birth defects and developmental problems in infants.

In 2014, PFAS were found in groundwater near the Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base. Firefighter training had been conducted at the base using firefighting foam containing PFAS.

Since 2017, Martinsburg’s water system has been removing PFAS from its drinking water.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $5 billion to address PFAS contamination in water systems. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, one of the law’s sponsors, said the new EPA guidance is confusing and that no water system can test for such low levels.

“I take the threats of PFAS pollution seriously, but the federal government needs to focus its resources on communities with serious contamination issues to protect human health,” Capito said in a statement. “No water system in the country—in fact, not even bottled water—will be able to demonstrate compliance with standards EPA has set today.”

In 2009, the EPA reached an agreement with the Dupont Washington Works in Parkersburg to offer residents water treatment or bottled water if one kind of PFAS in their drinking water exceeded a certain threshold.

In both Parkersburg and Martinsburg, testing revealed that some residents were found to have many times more PFAS in their blood than than the national average.

West Virginia Suit Filed Over Exposure To Firefighting Foam

Seven companies have been named in a lawsuit related to the contamination of a West Virginia city’s water supply from firefighting foam.

The lawsuit filed by Charles Town attorney Stephen Skinner seeks damages for exposing Martinsburg residents to chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAs. Among the defendants in the lawsuit filed last month in federal court were 3M Co., DuPont Co. and Chemours.

Last year, the Air Force agreed to reimburse $4.9 million to Martinsburg for expenses related to the 2016 cleanup of hazardous chemicals from the city’s water supply. A statement at the time from U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said the source of the contamination was firefighting foam used by the Air National Guard at the Eastern Regional Airport to put out oil-based fires.

The Environmental Protection Agency identified high levels of contamination linked to PFAs and mandated that additional water filtration systems be installed at a treatment plant, Capito’s release said.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and medical monitoring, alleges negligence, battery, failure to warn, and design defect. Skinner said the companies knew the materials were dangerous and that the contamination was preventable.

“Chemical companies have known for decades that PFA compounds don’t break down and that they accumulate in the human body,” Skinner said in a news release. “Those exposures can lead to illness.”

In a statement, 3M said it “acted responsibly” in the manufacture and sales of firefighting foam and “will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship.”

Messages left with DuPont and Chemours were not immediately returned Thursday.

An order filed Monday will transfer the lawsuit to federal court in South Carolina, where dozens of other similar lawsuits were sent, news outlets reported.

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