Paul Tonko: “This amendment would block implementation of the important public health protections in this bill until the EPA…”

“This amendment would block implementation of the important public health protections in this bill until the EPA administrator certifies that its PFAS Action Plan is completed. Let's be clear about something. This EPA is never going to complete that action plan. EPA has already failed to meet the weak deadlines it set for itself in that. We were supposed to have a regulatory determination for PFOA and PFAS in drinking water. We do not. We were supposed to have designations of PFOA and PFAS under Superfund. In fact, in EPA's action plan they note that they started that activity in 2018. They haven't gotten it done. We were supposed to have EPA action to require reporting of PFAS releases on the Toxics Release Inventory. We had to attach that to the NDAA to get it done. And, by the way, Republicans supported taking that action on NDAA. But even these specifics are giving this amendment too much credit. This is not a serious amendment because EPA's Action Plan is not designed to ever be completed. Many of the action items are characterized by the EPA itself as ongoing commitments. Here is an example. EPA committed to holding responsible parties accountable for PFAS releases into the environment. That task is an ongoing commitment that can never be completed. Evaluating new science, evaluating new PFAS, assessing new drinking water treatment technology, these are all things EPA will continue doing indefinitely.…”