State officials are urging the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt tighter regulations for PFAs chemicals
PFAs, or perfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of chemicals that have been found across the state and are linked to health problems including cancer.
Michigan Attorney General Danal Nessel and the departments of Health and Human Services and Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued comments last month on proposed EPA drinking water and cleanup guidance.
Kelly Rossman-McKinney is with the office of the Attorney General. She said EPA guidance should be more stringent to better protect public health. And, she said, the standards need to be enforceable.
“The more voices calling on the EPA to do the right thing the better,” Rossman-McKinney said.
She pointed out that the state had already adopted more stringent standards and is currently in the process of adopting some of the most aggressive standards in the country.
“We’re really counting on the EPA to strengthen it’s regulations. As strong as our regulations are, it means nothing if other states aren’t held to the same standard because groundwater knows no boundary.”
Officials with the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy echoed the statements of the Attorney General saying the guidelines currently being pursued are already outdated.
US Congressman Dan Kildee introduced legislation in April requiring the EPA to set an enforceable standard for PFAs. At the time the Congressman said the EPA seemed unlikely to pursue an enforceable standard on its own.
Among the concerns raised by state officials is that the proposed EPA guidance only addresses two of the thousands of PFAs that could be contaminating the environment.