Hearing of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee - ICapito Questions EPA Administrator Wheeler

Hearing

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today questioned Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler on several topics in an oversight hearing:

On Cleaning Up Minden: "A year ago we were down in Minden, West Virginia, looking at a site, and I know that you've continued to do soil sampling there, but I understand it's been put on hold because of the COVID response. Can you give me a quick update on that and where you are?"

On PFAS: "I'm very pleased EPA has moved forward on the language that Senator Carper and I worked on with Senator Gillibrand. You added 172 PFAS chemicals to the Toxic Relief Inventory so thank you for that. That's a major development, providing more information for not just companies, but individuals and health folks in those communities. Looking forward, when can we expect a finalization of the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for PFOS and PFOA? Where are you on this critical issue?...I want to tell you to expect from me a very aggressive posture on this because I'm very passionate about this particular issue when it comes to safe drinking water, and I encourage the EPA to be as quick and as thorough as possible in this area."

BACKGROUND:

Last year, Administrator Wheeler joined Senator Capito in Minden for the announcement of the town's addition to EPA's Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) where releases of contamination pose human health and environmental risks--including the Shaffer Equipment/Arbuckle Creek area.

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