The EPA Adopts Enforceable Limits for The First Time on Forever Chemicals (PFAS).
Last week we welcomed US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan’s announcement of the agency’s first enforceable limits on toxic PFAS in drinking water. Regan’s selection of Fayetteville for the announcement underscored the danger of these “forever chemicals” to the health of North Carolinians and the public nationwide.
“This is a huge win for the country, but especially North Carolina,” said Carrie Clark, executive director at NCLCV. “It was here in North Carolina that researchers first discovered some of these forever chemicals. It is in Fayetteville that communities–primarily communities of color–have been targeted as dumping sites for state and foreign waste. Late last year the EPA denied the dumping of 4.4 million pounds of PFAS wastewater annually from the Netherlands into Fayetteville. Both this and the protections established today are one step toward environmental justice for the communities facing the brunt of this pollution in North Carolina.”
Regan said that the new standards would reduce exposure for 100 million Americans to these long-lived and toxic chemicals. PFAS and other such toxic chemicals are especially dangerous because they do not readily break down in the environment. Chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals in drinking water will build up over time to dangerous levels in humans.
PFAS in North Carolina
The history of PFAS (especially GenX) contamination in North Carolina’s Cape Fear River Basin, from sources in Fayetteville down to drinking water supplies as far away as Wilmington, is notorious. According to the NC Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), in 2022 over 300 municipal and small water systems tested in North Carolina showed PFAS contamination at levels exceeding the new EPA action trigger limits.
“My family and I don’t use the faucet for cooking or brushing our teeth. We use bottled water for that,” said Stacey Freeman, lead NCLCV Foundation organizer and Fayetteville resident. “It’s not just me, either; it’s my friends, it’s my community. They want to protect their kids just like I want to protect my son from these harmful chemicals. We just don’t trust the water.”
PFAS contamination in drinking water is one of the critical public health and environmental issues on which North Carolina’s pro-polluter legislative leadership has refused to act.
“PFAS comes up in the General Assembly every year,” said Dan Crawford, director of governmental relations at NCLCV. “Yet the pro-polluter majority has failed to enact meaningful legislation to address the issue. We welcome this announcement from the Biden administration for doing what Republicans in North Carolina have refused to do, protect everyday North Carolinians from the dangers of forever chemicals. We will continue to work to elect candidates who will protect our drinking water, and oust those who bow down to the money of corporate polluters.”
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