Peters Statement on Trump EPA Rolling Back Drinking Water Standards for Toxic PFAS Chemicals

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) released the following statement on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) move to roll back national drinking water standards for harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) or "forever chemicals":

"This decision is extremely alarming and rolls back years of progress to rid our communities of toxic, deadly PFAS chemicals. Every person deserves access to safe, clean drinking water, but these forever chemicals continue to threaten the health and lives of people across our state and country. That's why I have long fought for stricter standards to protect Americans from PFAS exposure. Unfortunately, this move by the Trump Administration is a step in the wrong direction, and will delay needed cleanup work at the detriment of public health."

Michigan communities and residents continue to face severe challenges with toxic PFAS contamination. Michigan is home to a number of military installations where PFAS contamination has been detected, including Camp Grayling and the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda. If finalized, the EPA's proposal would end drinking water limits for four toxic PFAS chemicals, including GenX, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFBS. PFHxS specifically has been heavily detected at Camp Grayling. The decision also would give utilities two additional years to comply with limits on two other prevalent chemicals known as PFOS and PFOA.

Peters has long fought to address toxic PFAS chemicals, including by securing $10 billion in federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for PFAS remediation efforts in Michigan and across the country. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Peters also successfully secured a provision in the annual national defense bill that requires DOD to submit annual reports detailing site-specific funding, progress, and barriers for all interim PFAS remediation and cleanup efforts. This includes timelines, performance metrics, and the status of the actions. Peters' provision also requires DOD to create a public online dashboard within one year to display updated PFAS cleanup data, funding, timelines, and community points of contact. The bill also contained a Peters led initiative to direct DOD to provide bottled water to communities with private drinking water wells with high levels of PFAS contamination as a result of DOD activities.

In September 2018, Peters helped convene the first-ever hearing on PFAS contamination in the Senate, which assessed the federal government's response to PFAS contamination and remediation efforts. He then convened a field summit in Grand Rapids in November 2018 to shine a light on how local, state, and federal governments are coordinating responses to address PFAS contamination. Peters also convened a hearing in 2021 as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to examine how servicemembers, their families, and communities across the country have been harmed by exposure to toxic PFAS substances connected to military sites. In 2022, Peters convened a field hearing in East Lansing with officials from the Department of Defense (DoD), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to examine federal efforts and coordination with state and local governments to clean up and prevent contamination from PFAS, and to examine the impact exposure to these toxic chemicals has had on servicemembers, first responders, families, and other Michiganders. He has also taken steps to hold the DoD accountable for their failure to meet key PFAS reporting deadlines.

Peters introduced and advanced bipartisan legislation to reduce the spread of PFAS chemicals at commercial airports. The Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act, which was signed into law in 2022, is working to deploy more existing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding for commercial airports to purchase devices to test their firefighting equipment without discharging toxic PFAS chemicals. In 2022, Peters' bill to help protect firefighters and emergency responders from PFAS exposure in the line of duty was also signed into law.

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