Committee on Environment and Public Works Holds Hearing on EPA PFAS Efforts by ACWA Staff Oct 20, 2021 Member Submitted News WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works today held a hearing to assess the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ongoing and proposed responses to PFAS in the environment, with an emphasis on water contamination. The hearing mainly focused on EPA’s recently released PFAS Strategic Roadmap (Roadmap). “Addressing PFAS is a bipartisan issue,” noted Radhika Fox, Assistant Administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water, in her written testimony. She expanded upon EPA’s various plans detailed in the Roadmap, including expected regulatory timelines and goals, an emphasis on environmental justice, and EPA’s plans to engage stakeholders through future roundtables. Fox added that “under the Biden-Harris Administration, the EPA has worked tirelessly from day one to restore scientific integrity and accelerate the research and policies needed to systematically shift and accelerate the agency’s approach to protecting the public from PFAS.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D–IL) questioned Fox on the need for resources to accomplish the goals of the Roadmap, specifically referencing water and wastewater funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package. Fox responded by saying, “we are very excited by the comprehensive nature of the Roadmap and we were really intentional about identifying what we can do with our existing resources, but the Bipartisan Infrastructure Package and the Build Back Better plan would be a game changer in our ability to address PFAS.” Between the Senate-passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Package and the House draft Budget Reconciliation Package, there is $10 billion included for addressing PFAS and $45 billion for addressing lead service lines. Fox also promoted the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s newly formed Interagency Policy Committee on PFAS, which is meant to facilitate coordination of PFAS response activities across the government. The committee will work to coordinate and help develop new policy strategies to support research, remediation and removal of PFAS in communities across the country. The EPA will be hosting two stakeholder engagement sessions on the Roadmap, including two webinars on Oct. 26and Nov. 2. The EPA will also seek input from small entity representatives for a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel on the development of a national Primary Drinking Water Regulation for certain PFAS. The EPA considers small entities to be public water systems serving 10,000 or fewer people. The deadline to submit self-nominations is Nov. 2. For more details, visit the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ’s website.