“PFAS contamination is endangering public health across New England,” said Heather Govern, Director of CLF’s clean water program “The chemicals’ health risks have been known for decades, but current drinking water standards fail to protect us from the threat of serious illness. With the EPA dragging its feet, our state agencies are obligated to set limits that safeguard our drinking water.”
Stormwater pollution is a major threat to the Charles River. CLF and the Charles River Watershed Association are pressuring the EPA to hold polluters accountable.
“PFAS contamination is endangering public health across Massachusetts,” said Heather Govern, Director of CLF’s clean water program. “Setting a protective limit is an important first step, as is DEP’s commitment to evaluate every option to protect the public from the entire PFAS class of chemicals. But there are thousands of these dangerous compounds in the environment, and CLF will continue the fight to rid them all from our water.”
“No one should have to worry about drinking toxic chemicals when they turn on their tap,” said Jen Duggan, Vice President and Director of CLF Vermont. “ANR’s decision to regulate five PFAS chemicals is an important first step.”
Jen Duggan, Vermont director of Conservation Law Foundation, said that CLF sees the drinking water standard as an “important step” and was encouraged to see the state is looking to move beyond setting chemical by chemical limits.
“We are encouraged by ANR’s commitment to evaluate options to protect Vermonters from the PFAS class of chemicals,” said Jen Duggan, director of CLF Vermont. “ANR’s decision to regulate five PFAS chemicals is an important first step. There are thousands of these harmful substances, and CLF will continue to fight to get them out of our water.”
New England’s drinking water is under threat.
CLF and our partners are calling on state leaders across New England to step in to protect our drinking water – and our health – from dangerous chemicals.
CLF says the new settlement is the first of its kind to require a redeveloped base to get a federal sewer permit, or to mandate pilot treatment technologies for PFAS.
The Boston-based environmental law firm contends this unimpeded flow of nutrients into these water bodies must be regulated under the Clean Water Act, which imposes much higher standards of pollution control than the state permit. Nutrients such as nitrogen spur rapid algal growth, destroying pond and bay ecosytems, rendering them unfit for swimming, fishing or marine life.
