Nearly 300 military sites across the county, including the former Willow Grove air base in the Philadelphia suburbs, have PFAS contamination and as many as 110 million Americans are drinking PFAS-contaminated water, she said, citing Environmental Working Group data. Another Michigan Democrat Rep. Andy Levin has called them the "DDT of our era."
To me, Pallone's stance needs further clarification.
Thanks to Amanda Oglesby - Asbury Park Press we know this:
As of December 2019, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a Democrat whose Sixth District stretches along coastal portions of Monmouth and Middlesex counties, is urging Congress to adopt legislation that would regulate PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. "This legislation is critical to stopping the flow of these harmful chemicals into our
environment, drinking water, cooking products and more," Pallone said in a news release.
The Environmental Working Group, an organization dedicated to protecting human health, applauded Pallone's help in the call for stronger federal regulations. The group found PFAS in water systems across the state that serve an estimated 3.6 million New Jersey residents, according to its latest report. "It's time for Congress to finally address the growing PFAS contamination crisis," said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group
The federal agency sets no limits on PFAS in drinking water, but has announced non-binding "health advisories" for the chemicals. In 2018, New Jersey established its own limits on PFAS at 13 parts per trillion. In contrast, the EPA's recommended drinking water limits are five times higher, at 70 parts per trillion.
"PFAS are persistent, toxic chemicals that last forever and spread through our water, air and soil," Pallone said in a news release. "New Jersey has some of the highest levels of PFAS contamination in the country."
In New Jersey, the Environmental Working Group found some of the highest levels of PFAS contamination at the former Naval Air Warfare Center in Trenton. There, PFAS concentrations were 27,800 parts per trillion, more than 2,138 times the state's limits.
On the McGuire side of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, PFAS
concentrations were 294,900 parts per trillion, or 22,684 times the state's limit, according to the EWG report.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on which Pallone serves as chairman has passed legislation to regulate PFAS and clean up waste sites. The bill is slated to head to the full House of Representatives.
In July, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine McCabe testified before House Oversight and Reform Environmental Subcommittee about the necessity to set strict federal limits on the chemicals. She urged the committee to require manufacturers to share information about chemicals they produce.
"New Jersey and other states have repeatedly urged the EPA to move forward with setting regulatory limits for PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but the EPA has been very slow to act," McCabe said in a news release in July. "New Jersey therefore moved ahead to set its own guidelines."
PFAS are "pervasive" in New Jersey ground water, surface water, fish tissue samples, drinking water and private wells, according to the DEP.
In March 2019, the DEP directed five companies Solvay, DuPont, Dow DuPont, Chemours and 3M to provide detailed accounting of their PFAS discharges in New Jersey. The requirement included discharges through wastewater, air and sales of products containing PFAS.
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