WASHINGTON, D.C.—New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe testified before a congressional subcommittee on July 24 about the state’s leadership in setting strict standards for PFAS chemicals.
PFAS are a family of man-made chemicals that have been used for consumer and industrial products since the 1940s. These chemicals are used to make fluoropolymer coatings and products that resist heat, grease, water, oil, and stains, says the Centers for Disease Control. Fluoropolymer coatings are also used in products such as clothing, furniture, adhesives, food packaging, heat resistant non-stick cooking surfaces and the insulation of electrical wire.
These chemicals are a cause for concern because they do not break down and can build up in fish and wildlife and are able to move through soils which can contaminate drinking water sources, says the CDC. Most people are exposed to PFAS through contaminated water or food.
“Many or most of the sources of PFAS contamination have not yet been detected, much less investigated and addressed,” Commissioner McCabe testified. “States lack the most basic information regarding the volumes and locations of historic production and distribution of most PFAS compounds, and we know almost nothing about the replacement chemicals currently in use. As with their predecessors, these have been billed as non-toxic, but experience is teaching us otherwise.”
PFOA and PFOS, two of the most studied PFAS, were detected in the blood serum of up to 99% of samples collected between 1999 and 2012 in a population that is representative of the U.S., according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can negatively impact health, says the EPA. Studies indicate that PFOA and PFOS can cause reproductive and developmental, liver and kidney, and immunological effects in laboratory animals as well as tumors. Among exposed populations there have been consistent findings of increased cholesterol levels and more limited findings of low infant birth rates, effects on the immune system, cancer, and thyroid hormone disruption.
“As the most densely populated state in the country and one of the most industrialized, New Jersey has had a particularly high occurrence of PFAS contamination in drinking water,” Commissioner McCabe said. “That is why we have taken the threat of PFAS chemicals so seriously, and have played an early, leading role among the states in addressing this problem.”
On March 25, New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection issued a directive identifying five companies it says are responsible for extensive contamination and directed them to fund millions of dollars in assessment and cleanup efforts. The five companies—Solvay, DuPont, Dow Dupont, Chemours and 3M—are also required to provide the DEP with a detailed account of their use and discharge of PFAS chemicals.
“The Department has expended tremendous resources to investigate the presence of these substances in New Jersey’s environment, as well as monitor, treat, clean up, and/or remove these substances in impacted areas,” the directive states. “As a result, the Department has determined it is imperative to the protection of the public health and safety and the environment of New Jersey that such investigation, monitoring, testing, treatment, cleanup and removal continue, and that Respondents, not New Jersey residents, pay for these activities.”
Commissioner McCabe told the House Oversight and Reform Environmental Subcommittee that even with the State’s strides to protect public health and drinking water, there is still a need for federal cooperation to help all states protect their residents. McCabe also called on the committee to require corporate manufacturers to share information about the chemicals they produce.
“Even better, we need the federal government to require chemical companies to use more care and to disclose the risks before putting these chemicals into commerce,” McCabe said. “The current approach is subjecting the environment and public to their detrimental effects without a full understanding of the nature and the degree of the risk they present. This leaves states in a position of perpetually scrambling to address the injuries caused by these chemicals, rather than preventing them in the first place.”
In February, the EPA announced a plan to address PFAS contamination nationally, however, the plan is expected to take years to enact. Currently, the EPA’s healthy advisory for PFOA and PFOS is at 70 parts per trillion.
New Jersey became the first state to adopt a maximum containment level of 13 parts per trillion for PFNA in drinking water in 2018, which is the strictest standard in the nation, and added it to the List of Hazardous Substances. The DEP has also proposed groundwater quality standards for PFOA and PFOS at 14 parts per trillion and 13 parts per trillion, respectively, in addition to adding both to the List of Hazardous Substances. These actions came following recommendations from the New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute, which is an advisory panel of the state’s leading water experts.