Today, Representatives Debbie Dingell, Brian Fitzpatrick and Pat Ryan, along with 13 additional members of Congress, introduced comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to protect Americans and the environment from harmful forever chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The bill would establish a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals, accelerate designation of PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances, limit industrial discharge, and provide $200 million annually to assist water utilities and wastewater treatment, among other provisions.

Meanwhile, recent reporting from Food & Water Watch details more than $110 million spent on lobbying by the chemical industry from 2019-2022 on scores of bills introduced in Congress – including earlier versions of the PFAS Action Act – to address the crisis of PFAS contamination throughout the country. As public awareness of the dangers of PFAS to human health grew over the last decade, so too did the corporate lobbying intended to derail action by Congress to hold the polluting industry accountable for cleanup and mitigation efforts.

In response, Mary Grant, Public Water for All Campaign Director at Food & Water Watch issued the following statement:

“This legislation will establish the regulations, definitions and polluter accountability that’s absolutely necessary to finally help rein in the pervasive PFAS pollution crisis that is impacting virtually every corner of our country. Chemical corporations lied to the public for years about the alarming health impacts of PFAS. Now that the truth about the many harms of PFAS has been exposed, the industry is trying to dodge liability by wielding its vast lobbying arsenal. We applaud Reps. Dingell, Fitzpatrick and Ryan for continuing to work to pass the PFAS Action Act in the face of aggressive corporate lobbying. We will keep eating, drinking and breathing toxic chemicals until the federal government steps up to set strong regulations on PFAS and hold polluters accountable for cleanup.”