Letter to Senate EPW on S. 1907

The Honorable Tom Carper 

Chairman 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

410 Dirksen Senate Office Building 

Washington, DC 20510 

 

The Honorable Shelley Moore Capito 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Environment and Public Works 

456 Dirksen Senate Office Building 

Washington DC 20510 

 

Re: Support for S. 1907, the Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2021

 

Dear Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Capito: 

On behalf of our members, partners, and community advocates across the country, we write in support of S. 1907, the Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2021, a bill that would establish deadlines for EPA to determine how to address industrial discharges of PFAS under the Clean Water Act. A version of the Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act was included in H.R. 2467, the PFAS Action Act, and H.R. 3684, the INVEST in 

America Act, both of which passed the House. 

We urge the Environment and Public Works Committee to support this critical legislation. 

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of over 5,000 synthetic compounds used in a variety of industrial processes and consumer products from non-stick cookware to stain-resistant coatings and grease-proof packaging. Often referred to as “forever chemicals,” PFAS chemicals are extremely persistent in the environment and the human body, and many have been linked at very low doses to serious health harms, including cancer, damage to the reproductive and immune system, reducing the efficacy of vaccines, and thyroid and kidney disease. 

According to recent analysis, nearly 30,000 industrial facilities could be discharging PFAS into the air and water. Industrial discharges of PFAS waste threaten the drinking water for millions of Americans, including vulnerable communities in Latino, low-income, rural and environmental justice communities who are already overburdened by pollution.

While some states like Michigan have taken steps to curb industrial discharges, most have not. Unfortunately, recent action by EPA falls short of what is needed to sufficiently address industrial discharges of PFAS both in terms of scope and urgency. 

The Clean Water Standards for PFAS Act of 2021 would establish important deadlines for EPA to take action to curb industrial discharges of PFAS, including requiring the agency to establish water quality standards within three years and establish effluent limitation guidelines and pretreatment standards for nine categories of point sources that are likely discharging PFAS within four years. 

We strongly support S. 1907 and urge its inclusion as part of a larger PFAS legislative package. 

Thank you for your ongoing leadership in addressing the PFAS contamination crisis, and we hope you will swiftly enact impactful responses to our nation’s needs in order to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our communities from these toxic chemicals. 

Sincerely, 

 

Advance Carolina 

Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie Alabama Rivers Alliance 

Alabama State Association of 

Cooperatives 

Alaska Community Action on Toxics Alianza Nacional de Campesinas American Sustainable Business Council Anthropocene Alliance 

Black Warrior Riverkeeper 

Breast Cancer Prevention Partners Cahaba River Society 

Cahaba Riverkeeper 

Cape Fear River Watch 

Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation Center for Biological Diversity 

Center for Environmental Health Center for Progressive Reform Center for Public Environmental Oversight 

Charleston Waterkeeper 

Children’s Environmental Health Network 

Choctawhatchee Riverkeeper Choices Interlinking 

Church of the Living God 

Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (CSWAB) 

Clean Cape Fear 

Clean Water Action 

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life 

Common Ground Consulting, LLC Community Action Works Campaigns Community Water Center 

Congaree Riverkeeper 

Consumer Reports 

Coosa Riverkeeper 

Crawford Stewardship Project Defend Our Health 

Delaware Riverkeeper Network Duke University 

Earthjustice

Eastern Panhandle (WV) Green Coalition 

Ecology Center 

Endangered Habitats League 

Environment America 

Environmental Justice Task Force in Tucson 

Environmental Protection Network Environmental Working Group Family Farm Defenders 

Fannie Lou Hamer Center for Change Fight For Zero 

Food & Water Watch 

For Love of Water (FLOW) 

Friends of the Detroit River/Detroit River Public Advisory Council 

Friends of the Rivers of Virginia Friends of Toppenish Creek 

Gas Free Seneca 

Great Lakes PFAS Action Network Green Science Policy Institute GreenCAPE 

GreenLatinos 

Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER 

Harpeth River Conservancy 

Haw River Assembly 

Healthy Gulf 

Hometown Action 

Illinois Council of Trout Unlimited Kentucky Resources Council 

Kootenai Environmental Alliance League of Conservation Voters League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) 

Living Rivers & Colorado Riverkeeper Los Angeles Waterkeeper 

Louisiana Green Corps 

Lynnhaven River NOW 

Massachusetts Rivers Alliance Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water 

Miami Waterkeeper 

Michigan League of Conservation Voters 

Midwest Environmental Advocates Military Poisons 

Milwaukee Riverkeeper 

Mississippi Rising Coalition 

Mississippi River Collaborative Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper Missouri NAACP 

Moms for a Nontoxic New York Mountain Watershed Association MountainTrue 

Nantucket Land Council, Inc. 

National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association 

National Wildlife Federation 

Natural Resources Defense Council NC Conservation Network 

NJ Audubon 

Ogeechee Riverkeeper 

Oregon Environmental Council OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition 

Pax Christi USA, New Orleans Peconic Baykeeper 

Pennsylvania Council of Churches People’s Justice Council 

PfoaProjectNY 

Physicians for Social Responsibility PolicyLink 

Potomac Riverkeeper Network Public Interest Research Group Puget Soundkeeper 

Rachel Carson Council 

River Network 

Riverkeeper 

Rockbridge Area Conservation Council Rogue Riverkeeper

Rural Advancement Fund of the

National Sharecroppers Fund, Inc Rural Coalition 

Safer States 

San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper Satilla Riverkeeper 

Save RGV 

Save The Sound 

SC Idle No More, SCIAC 

Science and Environmental Health Network 

Seneca Lake Guardian 

Sierra Club 

Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (Northeastern University) 

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project 

Southern Environmental Law Center SouthWings 

St. Johns Riverkeeper 

Steps Coalition 

Suncoast Waterkeeper 

Surfrider Foundation 

Sustain Charlotte 

Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville Tennessee Riverkeeper 

TerraScapes Environmental 

Testing for Pease 

The Alliance for the Great Lakes The Downstream Project 

The People’s Justice Council 

The Rising Youth 

The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans 

Three Rivers Waterkeeper 

Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council Tree Fredericksburg 

Turtle Island Restoration Network Twin harbors waterkeeper 

Union of Concerned Scientists Verde 

Vermont Conservation Voters 

Waterkeeper Alliance 

Waterkeepers Chesapeake 

Waterway Advocates 

WE ACT for Environmental Justice West Virginia Rivers Coalition 

Winyah Rivers Alliance 

Wisconsin EcoLatinos 

Women’s Voices for the Earth 

WV Citizen Action Group 

Your Turnout Gear and PFOA 

Zero Waste Washington

 

CC: 

Members of the EPW Committee 

Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader