WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR) and Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee Republican Leader John Shimkus (R-IL) released the following statement slamming Democrats for putting politics over solutions to the country’s PFAS challenges.
“Our Democratic colleagues are regrettably beginning the New Year with more of the same from last year: putting politics over progress. We have broad, bipartisan, and commonsense solutions to address the country’s PFAS challenges. Unfortunately, just as Democrats twice rejected a real opportunity to protect our drinking water from PFAS chemicals in the NDAA and in the government spending package that passed in December, the majority is again walking away from a solution. This partisan bill will never become law and is packed with bad policy that could benefit trial bar interests while foisting the unintended consequences of non-science based decisions on consumers and the economy.
“It did not have to be this way; compromise means everyone going outside of their comfort zones to get a deal - we and the Senate negotiators were prepared to do that. We all want to protect the environment and our constituents, which is best achieved through a measured approach that relies on sound science. We ask our Democratic colleagues to work with us on a solution based on science, not on ideology, uncertainty, and unworkable regulation," Walden and Shimkus said.
Background
* The PFAS Action Act of 2019 uses purely partisan, aggressive, anti-science regulatory framework to regulate PFAS substances under several environmental statutes - the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Clean Air Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
* There are more than 5,000 PFAS chemicals - of those, only 29 have developed scientific data and understanding.
* The White House released a Statement of Administrative Policy opposing the PFAS Action Act, saying the legislation undermines existing regulation and opens the door to over-zealous litigation.
* In the NDAA and December spending package, House Democrats rejected additional progress in protecting public health by establishing a drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS, and mandating cleanup of PFOA and PFOS at all DOD facilities.
