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Civilian Exposure:
by Pat Elder
I’ve had a productive summer working on PFAS contamination. I wrote this piece on Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and the status of legislation in Congress. I worked with The Action Network to collect 6,600 signatures on a petition demanding Congress pass laws to protect our health. We delivered the petition to Barrasso.
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I wrote this article, As many as 15 Military Bases Contaminated in Maryland
to demonstrate that the SSEHRI map needed updating, at least in Maryland. I circulated it within the Maryland General Assembly. I am working with Delegates Crosby, Lafferty, and Stein to draft legislation establishing an MCL for Maryland.
(Photo: Pat Elder in Kaiserslautern, Germany in July, 2019)
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I wrote this article, Navy Contaminates Local Groundwater and Sewer System in Maryland. I requested documentation from the Patuxent River NAS command that I knew existed but was not publicly available. After a few weeks and some pestering, they sent me a link to the CH2M Hill PFAS study, saying it was there all along. The report, published before the DOD March, 2018 report, showed PFAS in the groundwater at 1,137 ppt and regular episodes of “foaming” the county’s sanitary sewer system.
In July I spoke to hundreds of people in two German towns adjacent to US military bases on the facts presented here. Because of the Status of Forces Agreement between Germany and the US, there’s not much the Germans can do to stop the ongoing flow of contaminants from bases like Ramstein and Spangdahlem. In this video I explain how the US uses the carcinogens in routine drills.
In June and July, I worked with producers from NBC Universal to produce this documentary. I'm featured at the beginning of this 22-minute news piece and again at 11:50. The segment is significant because the Navy says it is not concerned with small releases of PFAS and there’s no need to test private wells 2,000 feet from burn pits. NBC reported that Maryland Health officials trust the Navy’s investigation and see no need to test wells. NBC says the military refuses to stop using PFAS and they refuse to clean it up. NBC also reported on the Trump Administration’s claim of sovereign immunity.
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Testing For Pease:
by Andrea Amico
Testing for Pease has had a busy and productive summer.
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In June, we helped organized and participated in the second National PFAS Conference held in Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a great event that brought together many perspectives surrounding PFAS to network, educate, and inspire.
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In July, NH DES made history with the passing of MCLs for 4 different PFAS at some of the lowest standards in the nation (PFOA = 12 ppt, PFOS = 15 ppt, PFHxs = 18 ppt, PFNA = 11 ppt). Also in July, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Energy, John Henderson, held a ribbon cutting ceremony at Pease for the Airfield Interim Mitigation System (AIMS). This is the second PFAS water treatment plant the Air Force has built at Pease using GAC and resin technology at the Pease Tradeport. And as summer winds down, the Pease community is hopeful to receive government clearance for the ATSDR Pease Health Study to start this Fall. Pease will serve as the pilot site for ATSDR's multi-site PFAS health study.
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Mothers for Safe Air & Safe Water Force
(EJ Task Force Tucson):
by Linda Robles Shosie
Our Group Purpose: Mothers for Safe Air & Safe Water Force is a community-led group, organizing with a purpose of protecting public health, advocating for the City of Tucson historical south-side residents whose primary drinking water source is impacted by Per-and-Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination.
In 2014, Mothers for Safe Air and Safe Water Force grew out of a collective concern about the adverse health effects caused by pollution in the south-side of Tucson. For decades - far too long - industries in the area have been improperly disposing of trichloroethylene (TCE) and other hazardous wastes without taking any responsibility for the pollution they’ve created. Around 1994, a 30 square mile area in our community, which included the Tucson International Airport, was declared a Superfund Site due to contaminated groundwater and soil.
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In 2014, Mothers for Safe Air and Safe Water Force grew out of a collective concern about the adverse health effects caused by pollution in the south-side of Tucson. For decades - far too long - industries in the area have been improperly disposing of trichloroethylene (TCE) and other hazardous wastes without taking any responsibility for the pollution they’ve created. Around 1994, a 30 square mile area in our community, which included the Tucson International Airport, was declared
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a Superfund Site due to contaminated groundwater and soil. Since then, PFAS and 1,4-dioxane have also been detected within our community, where we’ve seen higher rates of cancer, neuro-spine defects, asthma, skin diseases and other illnesses. Mothers like myself soon witnessed the deaths of our children and the greater prevalence of illnesses among our neighbors. We knew the contaminated water we had been drinking, showering, and cooking with for our entire lives was the likely culprit of our suffering. It became evident that a greater awareness about these injustices was necessary, and that concrete action needed to take place.
For these reasons, Mothers Safe Air Safe Water Force was formed to organize our community around these issues and prevent further pollution from taking place. In 2014, our group began a series of assessments among community members, knocking on doors in order to gain a better understanding of the health consequences resulting from long-term pollution in the area. It was evident that the higher rates of cancer, birth defects, lupus and other diseases around the airport and other contaminated areas were no coincidence. The data on cancer clusters, collected by myself and others, sparked interest and ignited awareness of the problem. In our fight for the human right to clean water, we have focused our efforts so far on documenting pollution, researching solutions, demanding government transparency, and building people-centered networks.
In early 2018, our group joined The National PFAS Contamination Coalition. Our group sent 3 community members to the 2nd National PFAS Conference at Northeastern University. It was a great experience connecting with science communities and legal experts who are rapidly recognizing and evolving their understanding of PFAS in the environment. But, greater than anything else to us was the opportunity to connect with other PFAS-impacted communities across the country who were able to participate in the conference. In my opinion, who better to tell our stories than those who live in these neighborhoods impacted by PFAS contamination in their primary drinking water sources?
Currently, Mothers Safe Air and Safe Water Force will be working in partnership with Freshwater Future to provide PFAS drinking water testing for residents in Pima County, and to help educate residents and communities about the issue, in order to protect public health. We are also working on some project proposals to help educate and raise awareness about this issue, to empower our community, and to help us build a people-centered movement. Additionally, MSASWF Executive Director, Owner, and Founder Linda Robles Shosie, has joined other PFAS impacted community group members across the country to serve on the CDC/ATSDR Executive Steering Committee to help organize a Community Engagements Summit in February of 2020.
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Green Science Policy Institute:
by Tom Bruton & Arlene Blum
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Having trouble keeping track of all the PFAS news and research? Indeed, the number of scientific articles published yearly about PFAS increased by 400% between 2006 and 2016. Green Science Policy has launched a new website called PFAS Central that’s designed to help.
PFAS Central provides up-to-date and curated feeds of scientific papers, news articles, policy items, upcoming conferences and webinars, and job opportunities. Each science entry contains a one-sentence explanatory statement for non-scientists, as well as the full abstract. News is updated weekly (with the help of the PFAS Project at Northeastern University).
We also provide consumer-focused resources and are developing a list of PFAS-free products for those looking to reduce the amount of forever chemicals in their shopping cart.
We hope the site is a useful tool to keep ahead on cutting edge research, policy, and other happenings related to PFAS. If you like the site or think of something to add, please email info@greensciencepolicy.org.
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Social Science Environmental Health
Research Institute:
by Grace Poudrier & Cole Alder
From June 10-12th, 2019, over 250 community activists, government officials, state legislators, scientists, journalists, lawyers, academics, and students all convened on the Northeastern University campus in Boston for the 2nd National Conference on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. The purpose of the conference was to foster alliances across sectors (government, academics, NGOs, and community groups) to better support communities impacted by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. Like the 1st National PFAS Conference held in June 2017, this was a unique meeting, bringing together different stakeholders to address an expanding public health and environmental crisis.
The three-day long conference was hosted by the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI) at Northeastern University. The conference Organizing Committee was composed of academics and advocates from SSEHRI, PROTECT (Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats—Northeastern’s Superfund Research Program), the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Testing for Pease, STEEP (Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFASs - the University of Rhode Island’s Superfund Research Program), Michigan State University, Whitman College, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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Conference presenters, panelists, and workshop participants discussed the significant growth in the number of known sites contaminated by PFAS since 2017, as well as the corresponding rise in community organizing, public awareness, scientific research, and regulatory action. The event provided a forum for diverse stakeholders to come together to share and discuss their experiences addressing
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PFAS contamination across the US and internationally. The conference was attended by over 250 people from the US and several other countries, including residents and activists from PFAS-impacted communities; scientists from a range of disciplines and from academia, government, and independent research organizations; municipal, state, and federal regulators; lawyers; journalists; firefighters and fire safety experts; and environmental and public health organization leaders. Federal and state regulatory agency representation included the EPA, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the US Department of Defense (DoD).
Also in attendance were representatives from numerous environmental advocacy groups, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the Green Science Policy Institute, Union of Concerned Scientists, Clean Water Action, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Most crucially, the community members and activists, and firefighters from across the country as well as internationally that were in attendance traveled from Hoosick Falls, New York, Laurence County, Alabama; Oscoda, Rockford, and Belmont, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; Merrimack, Rye, Portsmouth, and Hollis, New Hampshire; Fayetteville and Cape Fear, North Carolina; Buxmont, Pennsylvania; Westfield, Hyannis, and Ayer, Massachusetts; Anchorage, Alaska; and Fountain Valley, Colorado. Two presentations were given by activists from outside the US—one by a firefighter from South Australia’s Metropolitan Fire Service and another from “Mamme No PFAS”, a community group battling drinking water contamination in the Veneto Region of Northern Italy.
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In other news, our PFAS Contamination Site Tracker is currently undergoing extensive updates. A revised version will be made available by the end of the month, featuring easy-to-navigate citation folders for each contamination site listed in the document. Please reach out to us at pfasproject@gmail.com with any questions or with documentation of unlisted sites.
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