WASHINGTON, DC — Language that would have given the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to order cleanups at sites contaminated with toxic PFAS chemicals has been dropped from the annual defense spending bill in Congress.

According to capitol news outlets, Democrats have agreed to advance the “must pass” 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, without provisions regulating PFAS in toxic site cleanups or drinking water in order to meet a legislative conference deadline.

The annual NDAA was being used as a vehicle to advance several pieces of PFAS legislation, due in part, to widespread pollution caused by the military’s use of toxic AFFF firefighting foam.

Designating the chemicals as a “hazardous substance” under the federal Superfund law, known by the acronym CERCLA, is necessary before the EPA can order the U.S. Department of Defense or any other polluter to clean up water or soil with PFAS contamination.

Also dropped from the bill was language requiring new federal drinking water standards for the chemicals, which have been found in water serving 1.9 million people in Michigan.

Democrats who championed the PFAS language are blaming Republicans for blocking any language that would have created liability for private parties like farmers or wastewater plants that may have been unwitting participants in contamination, reported Politico.

Different House and Senate-passed versions of the bill have been in conference committee negotiations this fall, where the PFAS provisions have become a major sticking point.

Stock prices for PFAS manufacturers like 3M and Chemours jumped upward as news broke about the developments on Capitol Hill.

Environmental groups tracking PFAS legislation expressed disgust.

“The right way to tackle PFAS in our tap water is to stop further discharges into our drinking water and force polluters to pay their fair share for cleanup – and none of that may happen if this bill becomes law,” said Scott Faber, a vice president at the Environmental Working Group.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, accused Senate Republicans of “blocking meaningful bipartisan legislation” and “siding with corporate polluters.”

“The Defense Department and the Trump Administration's EPA have failed to act with an urgency that matches the scale of this public health crisis,” said Kildee, who co-chairs a Congressional task force on PFAS. “If Congress fails to act now on PFAS, service members and the American people may have to wait years for this administration to act.”

Kildee did not say whether or not he would vote against final NDAA passage. He was one of 69 lawmakers from both parties who threatened in October to withhold support for a bill that “fails to significantly address ongoing and legacy contamination from PFAS chemicals.”

Some Democrats had strong words for both parties. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, slammed colleagues on both sides for “behind-the-scenes, beltway politics.”

“This outcome betrays the solemn responsibility we have as lawmakers to protect our military families and all residents of this country, and Congress should be ashamed by its failure to lead,” said Carper.

According to Carper’s office, the final NDAA bill does include some other PFAS provisions meant to increase EPA’s regulatory scrutiny around the margins, such as requiring increased contaminant release reporting, greater manufacturing, use and sale disclosures, new guidelines on treatment and disposal and funding for research and investigations.

The White House threatened to veto the NDAA legislation in July if provisions to expedite the use of PFAS-free firefighting foam and authorize the military to pay for clean water at farms with contamination was included in the final version.

The veto threat also objected to the military being singled-out as “only one contributor to this national issue.” According to the Defense Department, the individual compounds PFOS and PFOA have been detected at more than 400 active and former military sites.

Of the 74 sites identified thus far by the state of Michigan with PFOS or PFOA above the EPA health advisory level of 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt) in the groundwater, 13 are related to military contamination and four are related to Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda.

Although the EPA has ordered cleanup at the former Wolverine Worldwide tannery in Rockford, the agency lacks jurisdiction over PFAS without the Superfund designation and must rely on Michigan regulators to enforce state standards for ground and surface waters.

In November, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a standalone package of bills that would, among other things, designate PFOS and PFOA as “hazardous;" although that legislation is much less likely than the NDAA to pass through the Senate and become law.

EPA officials say they’re on track to propose national drinking water standards for some chemicals by the end of December, although it could be years before any are actually implemented. The agency said this week it sent the “proposed regulatory determination,” which it did not disclose, to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review.

Officials in Michigan are moving forward with proposed state level drinking water standards for seven types of PFAS chemicals in the meantime. The state is holding three public hearings on draft maximum contaminant levels in public water in January.