House Passes Rep. Delgado's Bipartisan Legislation to Identify PFAS Contamination at Federal Water Projects

Press Release

Today, a broad, bipartisan coalition in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass U.S. Representatives Antonio Delgado (NY-19) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01)'s bipartisan legislation to require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine if there is any PFAS contamination on any of their facilities or operating sites. This legislation was included in the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act, annual legislation authorizing funding for water infrastructure projects. WRDA passed the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on a bipartisan basis.

Rep. Delgado's legislation requires the Army Corps of Engineers to identify the contaminants and their plan to clean up contaminated sites. The Corps, tasked with supporting water infrastructure across the country, has played a major role in developing cleanup technologies for toxic and hazardous waste in military and civilian sites through the Hazardous Waste Research Center (HWRC). This bill would ensure the Corps is involved in the federal regulatory processes regarding PFAS and will provide Americans with more definitive information as to where PFAS contamination exists across the country.

"I've made addressing PFAS contamination a top priority throughout my time in Congress and I'm glad to see the House take an important, bipartisan action to protect the health and safety of federal water infrastructure. This year's Water Resources Development Act includes my bipartisan bill that will require the Army Corps of Engineers to document all PFAS contamination in existing water projects and make the Corps a partner in tracking and remediating PFAS contamination," said Rep. Delgado, member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. "Protecting and improving our waterways ought to be a bipartisan priority and I am glad the legislation passed today reflects a commitment on both sides of the aisle to ensure the federal government is taking effective measures to protect and maintain our water infrastructure and safety. I will keep pushing the Senate to take up this legislation as soon as possible."

"EWG applauds Congressman Delgado for making PFAS pollution a priority," said Scott Faber, Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for the Environmental Working Group. "Thanks to the leadership of Congressman Delgado, we will know more about the scope of the PFAS contamination crisis in New York and around the nation. No member of Congress has done more to make PFAS a priority for Congress than Congressman Delgado."

"Once again, we're seeing what happens when our leaders prioritize keeping us safe from dangerous 'forever' chemicals," said Christine Santillana, legislative counsel for the healthy communities program at Earthjustice. "PFAS are well known to cause cancers and endocrine disruption, and yet they're everywhere. Congressman Delgado's provision would help us know where these chemicals are and what the Corps is doing to clean them up and reduce exposure. We're grateful to the Congressman for putting people's health, not chemical industry profits, first."

As founding member of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Task Force, Rep. Delgado has made addressing PFAS contamination in NY-19 an urgent priority in Congress, and introduced a number of measures to increase transparency and accountability around PFAS exposure. H.R. 2577, the PFAS Right-To-Know Act would create a 34th chemical class, requiring industrial facilities with over 10 employees who exceed a certain threshold of PFAS yearly to report to the EPA, and was passed by Congress and signed into law as part of the NDAA. Last year, Delgado urged the EPA to set maximum contaminant levels for PFAS chemicals as well as enact additional provisions to address water contamination in upstate New York and across the country. Instead of setting these maximum contaminant levels, the EPA only announced plans to begin doing so by the end of 2019. In September, Congressman Delgado reiterated these requests of the EPA to set a Maximum Contaminant Level for PFAS chemicals at Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, and introduced Michael Hickey -- a community leader who brought to light the water contamination crisis in Hoosick Falls -- as he testified before the committee.

This year, Delgado and Fitzpatrick also introduced two bipartisan bills to address discharges of toxic PFAS chemicals in waterways and water treatment systems. H.R. 5540, the PFAS Transparency Act would prohibit indirect discharges of industrial PFAS into wastewater treatment systems unless the treatment plant operator is given advance notice. H.R. 539, the Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2020 would add PFAS to the Clean Water Act's Toxic Pollutants List, allowing the EPA to regulate its release in water systems. Both of these bills were included in the House-passed H.R. 535, the PFAS Action Act. Last week, Rep. Delgado successfully amended the NDAA to include a measure that clarifying that manufacturers must report all PFAS discharges to the EPA under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), even if PFAS comprises less than 1% of a chemical mixture.

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