Providing for Consideration of H.R. Pfas Action Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Scanlon for granting me the time and Chairman Pallone and particularly Congresswoman Dingell for their leadership on PFAS issues.

I rise today in support of H.R. 535, the PFAS Action Act of 2019. This bipartisan bill will take much-needed and long-overdue action on these harmful forever chemicals.

These pervasive and dangerous chemicals pose serious risks to both human health and to our environment, and the delay in taking action on them has been inexcusable. They are known hormone disruptors, and studies link the exposure to them to kidney and testicular cancer, to thyroid disease and other health problems.

PFAS chemicals are concentrated in human and animal blood and tissue, and they can remain there for years. It is estimated that 99 percent of all Americans have PFAS in their blood.

In my home State of Maine, PFAS was first discovered in the groundwater at a former military installation due to the use of fire foam containing PFAS. But PFAS contamination has been found in our public water supply, in soil, in agriculture, and in animal products.

Once in the environment, PFAS will never break down. That is why they are called forever chemicals, so cleanup is essential to protect people in our environment.

Companies and regulators have known about the risks of products like Teflon, Scotchgard, and, yes, Gore-Tex for decades but have failed to take action to protect or inform the American people. The Department of Defense has repeatedly refused to clean up PFAS contamination at military sites across the Nation.

Because the Environmental Protection Agency has dragged its feet, we have no enforceable standards for PFAS levels in our drinking water, leaving communities without the information or the funding to protect our citizens, and there has been no action to fund cleanup because there was no requirement to clean up these dangerous chemicals. It is truly time to act.

Some of the things that the PFAS Action Act will do:

It will finally designate PFAS as a hazardous chemical, thereby ensuring PFAS contamination is cleaned up and polluters pay for their actions;

It will require the EPA to develop national drinking water regulations to test and monitor levels of PFAS in our public drinking supplies; and

It will add two types of forever chemicals to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory so we will finally know who is releasing them into our water, soil, and air, and we can hold them accountable.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in taking action for the health of our communities and our environment and to vote ``yes'' on the rule and ``yes'' on the final bill.

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