Delgado Asks EPA: Where is Your Plan to Keep Our Communities Safe?

Statement

Today, at a Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee Hearing, Representative Antonio Delgado (NY-19) asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water Dave Ross when the EPA plans to set a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for toxic PFAS chemicals in the environment. At the hearing, Congressman Delgado introduced Hoosick Falls Community Leader Michael Hickey, who testified on the status of contamination in the Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh communities. Earlier this year, Rep. Delgado brought Michael Hickey as his guest to the State of the Union to call attention to this issue and urge federal action.

Congressman Delgado has continually called for the EPA to establish an MCL for PFAS chemicals to keep our communities safe. In January, Congressman Delgado wrote to the EPA to urge them to include an MCL in the PFAS Management Plan that the agency would soon introduce. In July, the Congressman called on the EPA again to set a national MCL following New York State's establishment of an MCL. Today, the Congressman asked Assistant Administrator Ross again if he would commit to the introduction of an MCL for PFAS chemicals that are known to cause serious diseases, including cancer-- Ross would not. A video of the exchange can be found here and below.

After Assistant Administrator Ross confirmed that PFAS chemicals pose a risk to human health, he refused to say that the EPA would set a Maximum Contaminate Level for PFOAs. "The Assistant Administrator's non-answer today is unacceptable. Families are getting sick, mothers are giving birth to children with high levels of these chemicals in their blood, and yet the Environmental Protection Agency refused to commit to setting an MCL for a toxin its own leadership acknowledges causes cancer, thyroid conditions, auto-immune disorders, and kidney disease. Today, the Assistant Administrator suggested the EPA could go through a whole process of determining the harm posed by PFAS and not establish a Maximum Contaminate Level that would be used to keep our drinking water safe." Delgado continued, "I will continue to demand transparency and accountability from the Administration for the residents of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh. The American people deserve to know what is in their water--the EPA refuses to give us a straight answer of what they will do to protect human health."

Delgado has made addressing PFAS contamination in NY-19 an urgent priority in Congress. In May, Rep. Delgado introduced the PFAS Right-to-Know Act, bipartisan legislation that would require all PFAS chemicals to be listed on the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) at the Environmental Protection Agency. Earlier this year, Delgado urged the EPA to set an MCL for PFAS chemicals as well as enact additional provisions to address water contamination in Upstate New York and across the country. Instead of setting an MCL, the EPA only announced plans to begin doing so by the end of the year. Delgado is also a founding member of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force and a cosponsor of the bipartisan PFAS Action Act that would designate all PFAS chemicals under the Superfund program because they pose serious risks to human health and the environment.

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