GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A bunch of Michigan lawmakers is as soon as once more calling on the Division of Protection to supply an replace on its efforts to scrub up PFAS contamination at army websites throughout the nation.
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U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, and U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, are spearheading the bipartisan effort with a proper request despatched to the DOD. Kildee had beforehand led a push in 2019 for an replace from the Pentagon, resulting in a 2021 report that detailed what the division was doing and the place.
Kildee, a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional PFAS Activity Power, advised MLive that he believes the DOD can and ought to be doing extra, and he desires up to date knowledge to drive that time house.
“I’m impatient with the DOD,” Kildee advised MLive. “I am unsatisfied with the level of attention and the degree of urgency that I think this issue deserves.”
The letter broke down the request into 4 classes, together with a proof for the division’s methodologies for figuring out the scope of air pollution and the way it’s working with the impacted communities to speak successfully and mitigate well being dangers.
The group additionally desires an replace on the DOD’s use of aqueous film-forming foam, generally known as AFFF. The fireplace suppressant was used generally at airports and army installations and is likely one of the main sources of PFAS contamination on DOD properties. Using AFFF was banned as a part of the 2020 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act. The ban went into impact Oct. 1.
In keeping with the DOD, investigators have recognized 717 attainable PFAS contamination websites associated to the division. Of these 717, 710 have been evaluated and 578 require “further investigation.”
Remedial work has already began at greater than 350 of these websites and is slated to start out at 150 extra throughout the subsequent two years. Not less than 4 of these websites are in Michigan: the previous Wurtsmith Air Power Base in Oscoda, the Selfridge Air Nationwide Guard Base in Macomb County, and Camp Grayling and the camp’s airfield in Crawford County.
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The DOD says it has additionally taken actions at 55 websites nationwide to deal with consuming water and groundwater considerations past army property that have been attributable to the DOD.
PFAS — or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a big group of compounds first developed within the Forties and integrated into all kinds of merchandise for waterproofing and warmth resistance. A long time later, analysis confirmed that PFAS compounds take a very long time to interrupt down organically and might construct up within the human physique, inflicting critical well being issues together with most cancers.
In keeping with the Nationwide Institute of Environmental Well being Providers, there are greater than 15,000 recognized PFAS compounds.
The Environmental Working Group says there at the moment are greater than 5,000 confirmed PFAS-contaminated websites throughout america, together with at the very least one among 50 states, Washington D.C. and two American territories.
