Tell President Biden To Finalize EPA's PFAS Drinking Water Standards--Including GenX!
President Biden
Hello Friends,
We need your help. The chemical industry is trying to derail the final steps of the U.S. EPA's process to set the nation's first-ever PFAS drinking water standards--including a standard for GenX!
Please sign this petition to President Biden urging him to swiftly finalize EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards with NO CHANGES!!
Why This Matters?
The United Nations Human Rights Council recently issued a public statement condemning DuPont and Chemours for thwarting EPA's efforts to properly regulate PFAS chemicals. The UN also called out U.S. health and environmental regulators for failing to protect communities, especially in North Carolina, from business-related human rights abuses.
The chemical industry has spent more than $110 MILLION in the last four years to lobby against PFAS legislation meant to protect our communities and make polluters pay. Recently, industry and water utility associations have been working hard to stall and/or change EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards.
We recently learned the White House and key members of Congress are being pressured to remove GenX from EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards, increase EPA's proposed PFOA and PFOS drinking water standards from 4 ppt to 10 ppt, and/or stall the White House from finalizing EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards.
In February, Clean Cape Fear travelled to DC with other PFAS contaminated community groups to fight these scare tactics. We were not alone. Actor/Producer Mark Ruffalo joined us in DC! We made our voices heard and now its your turn!
Join the fight!
Sign this petition urging the White House to protect Americans from toxic PFAS in our tap water.
Thank you for standing with us. Your voices matter. Make them heard.
With gratitude,
Clean Cape Fear Leadership Team
Sponsored by
To:
President Biden
From:
[Your Name]
Dear President Biden,
In 2020, as part of the Biden-Harris plan to secure environmental justice your campaign made a promise to the American people to set PFAS drinking water standards.
Last year, US EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan came to Wilmington, NC to announce the first-ever proposed PFAS drinking water standards. This location was chosen specifically because of the horrific tap water contamination in the region due to decades of irresponsible releases of PFAS--including GenX, from notorious polluters like Chemours and DuPont. This event was well publicized. Removing GenX from the final drinking water standard would send a terrible message not only to North Carolinians, but to all Americans who deserve access to pollutant free tap water.
We urge you to finalize EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards ASAP without any changes. Time is running out.
The proposed drinking water standard will set science-based limits on PFAS in drinking water for six PFAS, including GenX. All six PFAS have been extensively, studied and have been linked to serious health harms, including cancer, and harm to the reproductive and immune systems.
Congress has provided sufficient funds to water utilities to comply with PFAS drinking water standards--including $9 billion in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Per the EPA's extensive economic impact analysis, the cost to include GenX and the three other "hazard index" PFAS is marginal. These "hazard index" PFAS are extremely relevant to public health as some, like GenX, are currently in commercial use. Establishing drinking water standards for these four PFAS is a strong deterrent for state regulators to stop all PFAS releases at the source before contaminating local drinking water supplies.
Setting a PFAS drinking water standard will not increase water bills for most ratepayers, 10 states have already adopted PFAS drinking water standards and ratepayers have not seen their water bills increase.
Finalizing the proposed drinking water standard for PFAS is particularly important for defense communities since the Department of Defense (DOD) has said they only intend to clean up drinking water they have contaminated to the current federal standard of 70 ppt. Contaminated communities all across the US have been fighting the DOD for years on this issue. The DOD has a massive budget and should be held accountable and operate responsibly in every state it resides.
North Carolina does not have PFAS drinking water standards, and yet North Carolina has some of the highest levels of PFAS in tap water in the nation--per multiple nationwide tap water studies. Keeping GenX in the drinking water standard will ensure water utilities in states like North Carolina remove commercially relevant PFAS.
Approving EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standard with no changes will protect millions of Americans from continued exposure to PFAS and prevent tens of thousands of serious illnesses. A sick workforce is not a fully productive workforce.
The United Nations Human Rights Council recently issued a public statement regarding extensive PFAS contamination in North Carolina expressing concern that “[h]ealth and environmental regulators in the United States have fallen short in their duty to protect against business-related human rights abuses..." Failure to include GenX in the final drinking water standard would be a further violation of our basic human rights.
Communities have waited long enough. You have the power to keep your promise. We urge you to swiftly finalize EPA's proposed PFAS drinking water standards including GenX. No changes!