“It’s hard to tell if they’re actually committing to taking certain actions,” said one expert.

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The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced a road map for limiting toxic chemicals, called PFAS, now widespread in drinking water.

“This is the most comprehensive cross-agency action plan for a chemical of concern ever taken by the agency,” said Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler at a press conference in Philadelphia. But critics say the plan lacks details and lags behind steps that some states are already taking to limit the contaminants in water. “The language is vague. It’s hard to tell if they’re actually committing to taking certain actions,” Anna Reade, a staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told BuzzFeed News. “This so-called plan is actually a recipe for more PFAS contamination, not less,” Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, said in a statement. The EPA is proposing to kick off a process to set a drinking water limit on two of the best known PFAS compounds (PFOA and PFOS) before the end of the year. Also, the agency committed to mapping the sources of PFAS contamination and monitoring for PFAS compounds in sources other than drinking water.

EPA EPA's 2018 National Leadership Summit

PFAS chemicals are lab-made compounds that are used in the manufacturing of nonstick coatings for clothes and cooking pans. (PFAS is short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.) Scientists have dubbed them “forever” chemicals because they do not break down in the environment and can last a long time. “They can contaminate our environment very quickly,” Reade said.

The announcement follows a “National Leadership Summit” hosted by former EPA head Scott Pruitt in Washington, DC, last year, and after EPA held meetings near communities that are facing major PFAS contamination problems. Rob Allen, the mayor of Hoosick Falls, New York, where high levels of PFAS were detected in the drinking water, wrote on Twitter that Wheeler’s message echoed Pruitt’s past comments.



Reviewing the early announcements, there will be no MCL's set today, just "starting the process." This is the EXACT SAME LANGUAGE that was used to my face from one of the higher-ups in @EPA when I met with former Administrator Pruitt in May of 2018. Waste of the last 9 months.