Congress Likely to Pass PFAS Legislation by October: Congress is under pressure to pass the defense authorization bill before the end of September when the current legislation expires. The House and Senate have passed different versions of PFAS provisions as part of the defense bill and will have to reconcile those differences in any final legislation to be sent to the President. House and Senate negotiators are expected to formally begin negotiating differences shortly after Congress returns the week of September 9. The House version designates PFAS "as hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, directs the Defense Depart (DOD) to stop using firefighting foam with PFAS chemicals, and directs DOD to provide farmers facing contamination with clean water or treat the contaminated water sources. The Senate version would require the EPA to set a drinking water standard within 2 years, require EPA to include certain PFAS in the agency’s Toxics Release Inventory, require manufacturers of the chemicals to submit additional data to the agency, and include additional provisions favorable to Rural Water Systems.
Environmentalists Release Documents They Claim Show PFAS Manufacturers Knew for 70 Years That PFAS Was a Health Threat: "They’ve known for almost that long that PFAS chemicals have a toxic effect on our organs. But they did not alert federal or state regulators until 1998, and many companies continue to make and release PFAS chemicals into the environment today,” said the Environmental Water Group (EWG).
