Raleigh, NC – Today, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) joined Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan as he unveiled the comprehensive Strategic Roadmap to confront PFAS contamination nationwide at North Carolina State University.
“North Carolinians are all too familiar with the costly impact PFAS contamination can have on local communities ,” said Congresswoman Ross. “Chemical companies have polluted the Cape Fear River with PFAS for years and tests of drinking water systems in my district, including in Raleigh and Cary, have detected PFAS. Fortunately, Congress and the Biden Administration have been working to tackle this issue on a bipartisan basis. Today’s announcement of the EPA’s PFAS Roadmap is one of the most significant steps to date that the federal government has taken to prevent and mitigate PFAS contamination. I would like to thank Administrator Regan for his service to North Carolina and our nation and I look forward to working with him to protect vulnerable members of our communities from these so-called ‘forever chemicals.’”
“For far too long, families across America – especially those in underserved communities – have suffered from PFAS in their water, their air, or in the land their children play on,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This comprehensive, national PFAS strategy will deliver protections to people who are hurting, by advancing bold and concrete actions that address the full lifecycle of these chemicals. Let there be no doubt that EPA is listening, we have your back, and we are laser focused on protecting people from pollution and holding polluters accountable.”
"This roadmap commits the EPA to quickly setting enforceable drinking water limits for these chemicals as well as giving stronger tools to communities to protect people’s health and the environment," said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. "As we continue partnering with the EPA on this and other important efforts, it is critical that Congress pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the larger budget resolution that includes billions of dollars to address PFAS contamination."
PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” are dangerous, man-made chemicals that do not break down easily and have contaminated the nation’s water, soil, and air for decades, resulting in serious health consequences.
The EPA’s PFAS Roadmap will guide the agency’s current and planned activities in 2021-2024 to research, restrict, and remediate harmful PFAS. The Roadmap includes regulatory and administrative actions and enforcement approaches that EPA intends to take, using existing authorities, to comprehensively address PFAS throughout the environment. Actions include a new national testing strategy to accelerate research and regulatory development, a proposal to designate certain PFAS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and actions to broaden and accelerate the cleanup of PFAS.
Congresswoman Ross serves on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee where she has consistently advocated for supporting research institutions and leveraging federal resources to eradicate PFAS contamination. In June, Congresswoman Ross led a letter with six other members of the North Carolina delegation to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Director Michael Regan urging the EPA to reconsider a Trump administration decision to deny a citizens’ petition filed by a group of NC-based environmental health and justice groups in 2020. The petition, filed under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), requested that EPA exercise its authority under TSCA to require Chemours to fund robust health and environmental testing for 54 PFAS manufactured by Chemours at its Fayetteville facility.
Congresswoman Ross also voted to pass the PFAS Action Act, legislation that would require comprehensive regulation of PFAS by establishing standards to protect drinking water from contamination and authorizing grants to drinking water utilities treating PFAS contamination.
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