[CPEO-MEF] PFAS: New high-level Defense Department task force

[Lenny Siegel]

Pentagon Announces PFAS Task Force to Address Contamination at Military Bases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP
JULY 24, 2019

WASHINGTON – The Defense Department will establish a new task force to address drinking water contamination from the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS at military facilities and in nearby communities, according to a news release by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

The announcement of the task force comes days after Defense Secretary Mark Esper pledged to Shaheen during his July 16 confirmation hearing to “approach the (PFAS) problem in an aggressive and holistic way.”

EWG has identified and mapped 206 military sites in the U.S. where drinking water or groundwater is contaminated with PFAS at levels that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s non-binding health guideline.

“EWG applauds Sen. Shaheen for getting Sec. Esper to commit to a comprehensive and aggressive plan to clean up PFAS at military bases,” said EWG Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber. “And we thank Sec. Esper for his swift decision to create this much-needed task force.”

…

For the entire release, see
https://www.ewg.org/release/pentagon-announces-pfas-task-force-address-contamination-military-bases

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org