Washington, D.C. -On Wednesday, July 24, 2019, Rep. Harley Rouda, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, will hold a hearing on “The Devil They Knew - PFAS Contamination and the Need for Corporate Accountability."
WHERE: 2247 Rayburn House Office Building
WHEN: Wednesday, July 24, 2019
TIME: 2:00 p.m. EST
The hearing will be broadcast here.
PURPOSE
* The hearing will examine the history of the science behind the health risks associated with PFAS chemicals; what corporations knew about this science and when they knew it; the current levels of PFAS chemical contamination in the United States; and industry efforts to clean up contaminated sites.
* The Subcommittee will also highlight steps taken by both Democratic and Republican state governments to regulate PFAS chemicals and hold corporate polluters accountable.
BACKGROUND
* PFAS chemicals are currently unregulated by the federal government and this absence of federal action has pushed states, under both Democrat and Republican leadership, to take efforts to regulate PFAS chemicals. A Subcommittee hearing on PFAS in March highlighted that there is bipartisan agreement that PFAS chemicals need more regulation by the EPA.
* PFAS chemicals may lead to serious, adverse health outcomes in humans, including decreased fertility, an increased risk of thyroid disease, increased cholesterol levels, and they have also been linked to cancer. PFAS chemicals commonly used in the U.S. have been linked to birth defects and delayed development.
* Major corporations which produced or used PFAS chemicals to make everyday consumer goods, such as DuPont’s Teflon and 3M’s Scotchgard, knew of the health risks of PFAS chemicals but actively suppressed the information.
* Up to 110 million Americans have been exposed to PFAS chemicals through their drinking water, and PFAS chemicals have also been detected in the country’s food supply, such as at dairy farms.
WITNESSES
Panel One:
Bucky Bailey
Affected Resident and Activist
Parkersburg, West Virginia
Emily Donovan
Co-Founder
Clean Cape Fear
Sandy Wynn-Stelt
Affected Resident and Activist
Belmont, Michigan
Panel Two:
Dr. Jamie C. DeWitt
Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Brody School of Medicine
East Carolina University
Glenn Evers
President
IS2 Consulting
Former Research Scientist, DuPont
Catherine R. McCabe
Commissioner
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Robert R. Scott
Commissioner
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
Steve Sliver
Executive Director
Michigan PFAS Action Response Team
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy
Jane C. Luxton (minority witness)
Co-Chair, Environmental and Administrative Law Practice
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
