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EPA To Limit PFAS Chemical Contaminants Found In Some Ohio Valley Water Systems

This story was updated at 4:15 p.m.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it will move forward with a series of actions to regulate toxic fluorinated chemicals, including proposing drinking water limits by the end of this year. But environment and public health advocates say that timeline is unacceptable.

In its long-awaited “PFAS Action Plan,” EPA laid out a series of actions to address the widespread contamination of fluorinated PFAS chemicals. Those chemicals include PFOA, or C8, which has been detected in several water systems in the Ohio Valley. The chemicals were used in a variety of products, including non-stick cookware, stain resistant clothing, and flame retardants.

Some municipalities in Ohio and West Virginia have been dealing with C-8 contamination for decades, and a court-ordered health monitoring program in the Ohio Valley linked exposure to a variety of health risks.

“This action plan represents a pivotal moment in the history of the agency and a pivotal moment for public health environmental protection,” said EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, speaking at a press conference in Philadelphia. “This is the most comprehensive cross-agency action plan for a chemical of concern ever undertaken by the agency.”

Among the actions outlined in the plan, EPA said it will:

“Propose a regulatory determination,” or take the next step to determine a Maximum Contaminant Level, or MCL, for PFOA and PFOS.
Continue enforcement actions (EPA has already done eight).
Clarify cleanup strategies for PFAS contamination and soon release interim groundwater cleanup recommendations for contaminated sites.
Expand research into the human health and ecological effects of exposure, how PFAS chemicals spread and how best to remove them from the environment.
Continue the process to of adding PFAS under the Superfund law.
Consider placing PFAS chemicals in the Toxics Release Inventory, a publicly available database containing information on chemical releases and other waste management activities.
Develop a plan to better communicate the risk to the public of exposure to these chemicals.

EPA’s plan was met with enthusiasm by some groups dealing with PFAS contamination. The National Ground Water Association, an Ohio-based trade group, said it was pleased with the agency’s actions to list PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law. Once listed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, states affected by the chemical contamination will be able to receive federal help holding polluters accountable.

The group also praised the agency’s decision to move forward with the regulatory process for creating drinking water standards for two PFAS chemicals frequently found in drinking water, PFOA and PFOS.

Concerns Surface

As more details emerged from the agency, however, environmental groups and some lawmakers expressed concern about the agency’s timeline for setting drinking water standards.

“It has taken the EPA nearly a year just to kick the can even further down the road,” said Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

In a statement, Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was more measured. Capito has repeatedly met with EPA Acting Administrator Wheeler on the PFAS issue and last week joined a bipartisan group of senators to urge the agency head to set a standard.

“It’s encouraging to see the EPA taking action to address something that has proven to be a real problem in a number of communities across the country—including in West Virginia,” Capito said. She added she intends to “remain actively engaged to push EPA to complete the process expeditiously and put that standard in place.”

In a call with reporters, Dave Ross, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Water, stressed the agency will go through the rulemaking process set out by the Safe Drinking Water Act. That will include using the most up-to-date science and taking public comment.

“We are going to move as quickly as we possibly can to do this,” Ross said, adding that whatever EPA proposes will likely be challenged in court. “So we will move with all deliberate speed.”

Potential Delays

But what that speed could look like is “up in the air,” said Genna Reed, lead science and policy analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The Safe Drinking Water Act gives EPA the authority to create drinking water standards for chemicals. MCLs set legally enforceable limits on the amount of a substance allowed in public drinking water systems.

In order to consider setting an MCL for a chemical, the agency must prove the pollutant adversely affects public health, is widespread in public water systems, and that regulation would reduce health risk.

EPA committed to starting that process in its action plan. Reed said now the agency will begin the process of filtering through the science surrounding these chemicals, a process she fears could face interference by political appointees at the agency who have ties to the chemical industry.

EPA’s Deputy Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Nancy Beck, formerly worked at the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group. The White House’s nominee to head EPA’s Office of Land and Energy Management, which manages the Superfund program, is former Dow Chemical Co. counsel, Peter Wright.

“There absolutely could be a determination that PFOS and PFOA should not be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which we would argue is perhaps not in line with the best available science,” she said. “So, it’s really important to follow and see what the EPA does here and to make sure that they’re consulting with their science staff and really listening to what they’re saying on these two chemicals.”

Currently, EPA has issued a health advisory for the chemicals of 70 parts-per-trillion, but some states, including New Jersey, have adopted lower acceptable contamination levels.

During his Thursday press conference, EPA Acting Administrator Wheeler said the agency is already taking enforcement actions to cleanup contaminated drinking water if levels are higher than the health advisory recommendation.

Reed, with the Union of Concerned Scientists, noted if a MCL is created for PFOA and PFOS, it would trigger much more monitoring. For example, water systems would be required to provide water quality reports showing how much of these chemicals are found in their systems.

Uncertain Risks

Public health advocates also raise questions about continued exposure to potentially unsafe levels of PFAS chemicals while the agency considers creating drinking water standards.

The Environmental Working Group estimates 110 million Americans drink water with dangerous PFAS levels. EPA estimates PFAS have been found in the blood of 98 percent of Americans.

A report released last year by theAgency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), found PFAS chemicals can endanger human health at levels 7 to 10 times lower than the EPA says is safe.

The report, ortoxicological profile, draws upon the best available research. At 852 pages, it is aimed at giving public health officials a comprehensive picture of how fluorinated chemicals may affect human health as well as highlight the different ways people may be exposed to them.

The study finds people are exposed to fluorinated chemicals in a variety of ways including through contaminated soil and water, food packaging laced with the chemicals, and some more directly by living near plants that manufacturedC8.

It also finds exposure to high levels of some fluorinated chemicals may affect fertility, increase cholesterol levels and increase the risk of thyroid disease.

David Andrews, senior scientist with Environmental Working Group, said there is already an overwhelming body of scientific evidence about the health impacts of PFOA and PFOS, informed largely by a study conducted in the Ohio Valley following a settlement agreement with DuPont.

“At this point there is close to or over 100 studies of their impact on human health really indicating the potential to cause impacts to our immune system, reproduction, development as well as all the other health effects including cancer, impacts on liver, kidney,” Andrews said. “Really, it’s just an incredible range of our bodies’ functions that these chemicals can really interrupt and disrupt.”

He noted the agency’s new plan does not address the thousands of other chemicals in the PFAS class, many of which researchers know little about. In the United States, more than 600 PFAS chemicals are allowed for use. EPA said it intends to do toxicity assessments for a handful.

“It was very much unclear what if any action they would take for other chemicals in this class,” Andrews said.

Cincinnati-based attorney Rob Bilott, who successfully brought at class action lawsuit representing more than 70,000 people against DuPont for its dumping of C8, said EPA has for years shrugged off taking action and this latest plan followed the pattern. During the course of the litigation, which lasted more than two decades, internal communications from DuPont were made public that showed the company knew about the chemical’s health effects since the 1950s.

In 2001, Bilott wrote to the EPA detailing what DuPont knew. Fifteen years later the agency released its health advisory.

“EPA has been promising to address the serious public health threat posed by PFAS chemical exposures for almost 20 years,” Bilott said. “Promising to conduct more studies, investigations and further work toward formal regulatory action at some point in the future, is not the same as actually taking formal regulatory action now.”

The agency said it will “explore” placing PFAS chemicals on its Toxics Release Inventory. If completed, that would allow for better tracking of how they are released into the environment.

EPA’s action plan states it intends to include PFAS in next Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, or UCMR. During the last round of testing, EPA found that 1.3 percent of the public water systems monitored had concentrations of PFOA and PFOS that were greater than the agency’s health advisory limit.

When asked at what level the agency would screen for PFAS chemicals, Wheeler said career staff would make that determination.

Toxic 'Teflon' Chemicals On EPA Regulatory Agenda

Environmental Protection Agency officials told a Congressional panel Thursday that the agency will announce by the end of the year whether it will take the next step to regulate a group of toxic fluorinated chemicals found in some water systems in the Ohio Valley.

The PFAS group of chemicals, which include PFOA or C-8, were widely used to make nonstick products and flame retardants and have been detected in at least 10 water systems in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. Exposure has been linked to a number of health effects.

EPA’s Director of the Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water, Peter Grevatt, told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee that the agency will decide if some of those chemicals should be declared “hazardous” under federal law.

Grevatt said if the agency takes this step, it could gives states more options for cleaning up contamination.

“This will give very important tools for states and local communities to address these PFAS challenges at local contaminated sites,” he said.

Millions Exposed

Millions of Americans have been exposed to the toxic fluorinated chemicals which have been linked to some cancers and thyroid problems at very low levels.

Emerging science from health studies indicates that EPA’s prior recommendations on exposure are not sufficiently protective of health.

In June, a draft report from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a part of the Centers for Disease Control, found these fluorinated chemicals can endanger human health at levels 7 to 10 times lower than the EPA’s recommended exposure limits.

State regulators who testified stressed the inconsistencies across federal agencies on what level of PFAS exposure is considered safe has led to increased public concern and driven some states to develop their own metrics.

Lisa Daniels, president of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, said EPA needs to take the lead and develop Maximum Contaminant Levels, or legally enforceable limits on the amount of a substance allowed in public drinking water systems.

“States, water systems and the public need national leadership now to address this issue and for us the question is not whether to regulate, but when and how and make sure it’s done using sound science,” she said.

Regulatory Concerns

Some Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups say EPA’s deregulatory agenda under the Trump administration could undermine efforts to deal with PFAS contamination.

Erik Olson with the Natural Resources Defense Council told the committee he is concerned EPA will not take swift action.

“Unfortunately, the agency has known about this problem for more than a decade and there hasn’t even been a determination that a standard is necessary,” he said. “I didn’t even hear the agency commit to making a determination in the testimony earlier today.”

Previously Blocked Federal Study Raises Alarm About C8 Chemicals

The Trump administration today released a politically charged study on the health impacts of perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS chemicals, including the compound known as C8, which has been detected in some water systems in the Ohio Valley.

The draft report, released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), finds these fluorinated chemicals, which are used in some nonstick products and flame retardants, can endanger human health at levels 7 to 10 times lower than the Environmental Protection Agency has previously said were safe.

Pressure on the Trump administration has been mounting for weeks to publicly disseminate the study. A growing number of lawmakers and advocacy groups have pressed the White House for action following news reports that the EPA had blocked its release.

Both West Virginia Senators, Joe Manchin (D) and Shelley Moore Capito (R), praised the release of ATSDR’s report.

“After repeatedly pushing the administration to make these findings public, I’m very glad to see it release this study today,” Capito said in a news release. “The information contained in the report will help determine potential threats our communities face as a result of certain water contamination issues, and that’s critical to ensuring the health of West Virginians.”

The report, or toxicological profile, draws upon the best available research. At 852 pages, it is aimed at giving public health officials a comprehensive picture of how fluorinated chemicals may affect human health as well as highlight the different ways people may be exposed to them.

The study finds people are exposed to fluorinated chemicals in a variety of ways including through contaminated soil and water, food packaging laced with the chemicals and some more directly by living near plants that manufactured C8.

It finds exposure to high levels of some fluorinated chemicals may affect fertility, increase cholesterol levels and increase the risk of thyroid disease.

Olga Naidenko, senior science advisor with the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, said the analysis especially highlights how these chemicals are toxic to developing fetuses, pregnant women and young children.

“ATSDR’s profile really highlighted how very low, low doses can be harmful to developing fetuses, but also, for example, to the immune systems of young kids,” she said. “That’s something that EPA’s profile didn’t do.”

In 2016, the EPA issued a health advisory for some PFAS chemicals, including PFOA, or C8, and the related compound PFOS, often linked to flame retardant foam sprays.

The EPA says water contaminated with more than 70 parts-per-trillion is unsafe to drink. Naidenko said since the EPA conducted its own study of these chemicals, much more research has been published, and that research was included in this new report.

“It certainly represents a science and policy advance on this important issue,” she said.

Understanding how exposure to C8 and other fluorinated chemicals affects human health hits close to home in the Ohio Valley. Some municipalities in Ohio and West Virginia have been dealing with C8 contamination for decades.

Dupont’s Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, dumped over 7,000 tons of C8 sludge in a nearby landfill where it leached out. The chemical polluted streams and exposure killed nearby livestock in the late 1990s. A lawsuit against DuPont on behalf of residents resulted in a settlement and established health studies which have expanded the knowledge of health risks.

In 2016, PFOA and PFOS contaminated firefighting foam used by the National Guard contaminated the city’s drinking water plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia.The city paid $4.5 million to install water treatment filters, and recentlysued the National Guard for damages to recoup those costs.

The new report also recommends Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for some PFAS chemicals. MRLs are an estimate of the amount of a chemical a person can eat, drink or breathe each day without it posing a health risk. Public health officials at both a federal and state level use these health-based values to determine if a community is at risk from chemical exposure.

ATSDR only suggested levels for oral ingestion of some PFAS chemicals. For PFOA and PFOS, the risk levels listed were far lower than what the EPA considers safe. The agency will take comments on the toxicological profile for 30 days.

EPA Pledges to Limit Public Exposure to Chemicals like C8

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said today the agency is prepared to take action to limit exposure of widely-used toxic chemicals used to make non-stick items.

PFAS is a category of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, C8, GenX, and many other chemicals with stain resistant, non-stick and waterproof properties. Several communities across the Ohio Valley have detected PFAS chemicals in drinking water and a few have significant contamination.

Speaking at a a two-day summit on PFAS contamination in Washington, D.C., Pruitt said EPA has a four-part plan to address water contamination from a suite of toxic fluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS.

EPA’s priority is to evaluate if a Maximum Contaminant Level, or MCL, is needed.

“It’s something that has been talked about for a number of years,” Pruitt told a crowd of about 200 people, which included representatives from 38 states and 20 federal agencies. “The process needs to begin.”

The MCL would set a legal limit on the amount of the substance allowed in public water systems. Currently, EPA has issued a health advisory for C8. It says water contaminated with more than 70 parts-per-trillion is unsafe the drink, but the advisory is non-enforceable.

Ohio EPA director Craig Butler, told summit participants in the absence of legally-enforceable federal guidance on PFAS contamination, states have taken different approaches. Many states are using EPA’s health advisory recommendations as the bar to take action, and a few are using more protective exposure levels than EPA’s.

“The resulting variation in PFOA/PFOS standards across the state creates a potential for confusion and complicates efforts to communicate health risk,” he said.

He encouraged the agency to discuss the merits of further regulation in open and transparent ways. He added this issue is important for many communities around the country including in Ohio and West Virginia. Some municipalities in those states have been dealing with C8 contamination for decades.

C8, a chemical similar to PFOA, was released from Dupont’s Washington Works plant in Parkersburg. DuPont dumped over 7,000 tons of C8 sludge in a nearby landfill where it leached out. The chemical polluted streams and exposure killed nearby livestock in the late 1990s.

At very low levels of exposure, PFAS chemicals have been linked to thyroid disease, immune disorders and kidney and testicular cancers.

Pruitt said the agency will also release groundwater cleanup recommendations this fall. EPA will consider declaring PFOS and PFOA a hazardous substance and will establish toxicity values for two other toxic fluorinated chemicals.

Cleanup recommendations may be helpful in cases such as 2016 chemical contamination in Martinsburg by the Air National Guard. PFOA and PFOS found in firefighting foam used by the National Guard allegedly contaminated the city’s drinking water plant. The city paid $4.5 million to install water treatment filters. This week, the City of Martinsburg sued the National Guard for damages to recoup those costs.

Pruitt told summit participants that state participation is crucial.

“Concerned citizens, local governments, states across the country are very focused upon acting,” he said. “We have people from community groups here as well that I know are very concerned about this. We want to hear from all of you as we take the next steps.”

Concerns surfaced about who was invited to the summit. Politico reported researchers who are currently and have in the past conducted studies of the health impacts associated with C8 exposure near the Washington Work’s plant were not invited. Furthermore, reporters from the Associated Press, CNN and E&E News were barred from attending the morning sessions of the summit. They were later allowed to enter.

EPA said it will hold a series of listening sessions across the country this summer.

This story was updated on 05/23/18 to clarify the chemical makeup of C8 and substances that the EPA is considering listing as hazardous.

Capito Urges EPA Administrator to Make C-8 Report Public

Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito pressed the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday over recently released emails that show White House and EPA officials attempted to delay a new federal standard for C-8 and other similar toxic water-polluting chemicals, which have for decades been detected in several water systems in the Ohio Valley.

At a Senate budget hearing, Capito asked EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to clarify why some agency officials expressed concern over more stringent standard for exposure levels of C-8. The changes have been proposed by researchers at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services. They came to light recently when a series of emails were made public.

The emails, which were obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, show ASTDR intends to release a report stating toxic prefluorinated chemicals, sometimes called PFOA or C-8, are not safe at levels lower than currently adopted by EPA.

EPA currently has a health advisory in place for PFOA and PFOS which recommends against drinking water with more than 70 parts per trillion, or ppt, of the chemicals.

According to the emails, ATSDR is considering standards ranging from 12 ppt to 516 ppt for a variety of fluorinated chemicals. When the proposal was flagged, EPA, White House and Department of Defense officials scrambled to block the release of ATSDR’s toxicology report. One official called the report a “public relations nightmare.“

The new standards would not be legally binding, but used as a screening tool at hazardous waste sites.

Pruitt denied having knowledge that EPA officials had concerns and said the agency will hold a summit on C-8 next week.

“I was not aware that there had been some holding back of the report,” Pruitt testified. “I think it’s important to have all information in the marketplace to evaluate this.”

Capito encouraged Pruitt to allow the report to be made public.

“Well I think you’re in a position to really, with your strong statement here today, to encourage this information to come forward to see, and then to look at it in the larger context of your meeting for next week,” she said.

Communities across the Ohio Valley have for decades dealt with C-8 contamination. The chemicals are used to make non-stick pans and are found in firefighting foam. Kidney and testicular cancer, pregnancy-induced hypertension and thyroid disease are some of the health impacts linked to exposure of PFOA.

Pruitt said the agency intends to “take more concrete action” on C-8. That may include classifying the chemicals as hazardous under the 1980 law that established the Superfund program, which would allow EPA to require responsible parties to pay for clean-up.

The agency is also weighing creating a legal drinking water threshold for PFOA and PFOS, he said.

C-8 Contamination Spreads Around the U.S.

For decades, communities in the Ohio Valley have grappled with water contaminated with toxic fluorinated chemicals, sometimes called PFOA or C-8 that are often used to make non-stick pans and other items, but this type of contamination isn’t limited to the region.

A newly-updated map shows the number of contaminated sites that are known to exist around the country has nearly doubled in the past year.

The non-profit Environmental Working Group and a team of environmental health researchers at Northeastern University in Boston developed the map, which tracks publicly-known contaminated sites reported from both EPA testing and state and local agencies.

The number of sites has exploded in the 10 months since the map was first published. Last February, researchers knew of 52 sites in 19 states. Today, they know of 94 sites in 22 states that report the presence of these chemicals, which are linked to cancer, thyroid disease and other health problems.

Much of the newly noted activity came from Michigan. Communities there are dealing with contamination from 3M’s Scotchgard fabric protector used by shoemaker Wolverine World Wide.

Martinsburg, in the Eastern Panhandle, was the only site in West Virginia researchers added during this update.

The map includes data from EPA’s testing of public water drinking systems between 2013 and 2016 and reported contamination from factories, landfills and airports gathered from state and local agencies and press coverage. It maps both C-8 and PFAS pollution. PFAS are replacements for C-8 chemicals companies no longer make and include GenX.

Bill Walker, an investigative editor with the Environmental Working Group, said the list is by no means exhaustive and many more communities are likely affected.

“Every place that has gone looking for it systematically, with any reason at all to suspect they might have contamination, has found it,” he said. “So, that’s why we’re confident in saying that we’re nowhere near the end of knowing the true scope of this problem.”

Walker says EPA could do more. The agency does not track contaminated sites. It has issued both short and long-term advisories on suggested exposure levels, but has not set a national legal limit for C-8 in drinking water.

EPA will host a national leadership summit on PFAS contamination next month in Washington, D.C.