PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In December, the EPA issued guidance on how to dispose of PFAS, the "forever chemicals" used in firefighting foam at U.S. military bases around the world and in many other products. But environmental groups are now asking the EPA to reconsider.
PFAS don't break down under normal environmental conditions, and they have been linked to numerous cancers and health issues. The EPA guidance says PFAS can be incinerated or disposed of in landfills. But the Environmental Working Group, and 30 other public health and environmental groups, want the EPA to contain the PFAS.
“They can be released into the environment again if they are placed in a landfill," Melanie Benesch, a legislative attorney with EWG, said. "Or even if you are incinerating products with PFAS or PFAS waste, the incinerator may not break down the PFAS, and then it just comes back up the air stacks, and can contaminate nearby communities.”
Benesch says the EPA should be pushing for new science to destroy forever chemicals.
“It doesn’t stress enough that what we really need to do in the interim is hold onto these wastes, and not be putting them in landfills or incinerating them, or disposing of PFAS in ways that’s just going to lead to more PFAS exposure and more contamination.”
She adds, “We can certainly ask the EPA to regulate more stringently how PFAS are disposed. And create stronger regulations and not just rely on this guidance. But in the meantime, EPA should be requiring users of PFAS and people who have PFAS waste to hold on to it and not put it back into the environment.”
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The EPA released this prepared statement on disposal:
“EPA will follow the science and law in accordance with the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive orders and other directives in reviewing all of the agency’s actions issued under the previous Administration to ensure that they protect public health and the environment. PFAS guidance will be part of that review. President Biden has highlighted the importance of, and his commitment to, tackling PFAS pollution and protecting public health and the environment. EPA is committed to taking action to better understand and ultimately reduce the potential risks caused by these chemicals, including how to safely dispose of PFAS. EPA’s actions to address PFAS will be underpinned by science and will support the agency’s efforts to develop effective regulation and provide improved public health protections for all Americans.”
Benesch says, “Our recommendation and the recommendation of the groups who signed on to EPA is to hold and store that PFAS waste until it can be safely disposed of.”
Benesch says incinerating PFAS has already resulted in contamination outside at least one incinerator in upstate New York which sits on the state line with Vermont.
“Researchers in Vermont went and collected samples outside of an incinerator and upstate NY, and found new kinds of PFAS that were created in that incineration process and contaminated a nearby community.”
PFAS used at the Willow Grove Air Station in Montgomery County contaminated wells in surrounding communities and are just now being remediated. A study is currently underway into health risks in the community connected to the chemicals.