WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), and Tom Carper (D-Del.) today introduced the PFAS Release Disclosure Act, legislation that would improve the availability of information related to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The bipartisan bill would provide a clear process for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify and share with the public and policymakers sources of PFAS emissions around the country, while respecting the formal rulemaking processes and scientific approach. This is the second PFAS-related bill Senators Capito and Gillibrand have introduced together this week and the second PFAS-related bill Senators Capito and Carper have introduced together in recent months.
“A significant part of mitigating the harmful effects of PFAS pollution is making sure individuals, businesses, and local leaders have access to information on contaminants,” said Senator Capito, a leader on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). “This bipartisan legislation would address the challenges posed by the emissions of hundreds of types of PFAS in a responsible, measured, and commonsense way, respecting the rulemaking process while also protecting public health and the environment. It’s another step in addressing what has proven to be a serious and widespread problem and a solution that I hope will lead to smarter, more informed use of PFAS by industry and government moving forward.”
“PFAS contamination is putting the health of millions of Americans at risk, and we must do everything we can to help ensure families in New York and across the country aren’t exposed to dangerous levels of PFAS in their drinking water,” said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). “This bipartisan legislation would make more information about PFAS chemicals available to the public and lawmakers as we work to address this widespread public health crisis. Americans deserve transparency about the PFAS chemicals being released into our environment, and I urge my colleagues to work with us to pass this bipartisan legislation.”
“PFAS contamination continues to be found in the drinking water supplies of far too many Americans,” said Senator Carper, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). “Timely and accurate information on the release of these ‘forever chemicals’ is essential to understanding what additional research, cleanup and prevention efforts at every level of government is needed – from municipal water districts to contaminated Defense Department sites to the Environmental Protection Agency. By adding PFAS to the Toxic Release Inventory, we can obtain more data about which PFAS are being released into the environment in order to inform future federal efforts as we continue to remedy this complicated, widespread problem.”
PFAS are broadly used by industry and the U.S. government in consumer products, industrial applications, and mitigating volatile chemical and hydrocarbon fires. However, their frequent and pervasive use at industrial and military installations has led to widespread contamination, a significant emerging health and environmental protection challenge. Identifying potential sources of PFAS emissions into the environment is essential to preventing and remediating this contamination.
The EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) serves as a centralized database of environmental releases or waste processing of toxic chemicals by industrial and federal facilities, and the owners of registered sites are accountable for reporting stockpiles of these chemicals to the EPA. While the TRI currently includes more than 650 chemicals, none are PFAS.
To help address the challenges of PFAS contamination and improve the availability of information related to potential contamination, the PFAS Release Disclosure Act would:
More information on the bill is available here.
Legislative text is available here.
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