Navy personnel load containers of firefighting foam on containers labeled National Foam onto the USS Monterey. -photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Billy Ho
The PFOS/PFOA water contamination, largely by the US military, is widespread. The more information that comes out, the more we find that this was preventable, and it is nearly everywhere.
The Bucks County Courier Times in Pennsylvania has been keeping up on this issue with sophisticated and detailed reporting, largely due to the skilled efforts of reporter Kyle Bagenstose. You can read all their articles on the subject HERE under the series title “Unwell Water”, and they are only just getting started.
Here are links and summaries for some of the Courier Times articles:
Senator Bob Casey Pushes Senator John McCain for PFC Health:
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, wrote to U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, on Tuesday, urging McCain to help fund a nationwide health study for Americans exposed to perfluorinated compounds in their drinking water.
McCain is the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Casey requested he use his stature to include funding for a study in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
Determining Safe PFOA Level an Uncertain Science:
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Drinking Water Quality Institute is targeting the Environmental Protection Agency’s 70 part per trillion (ppt) advisory limit for PFOA.
In other words, the amount of PFOA the EPA says is safe for millions of Americans to consume in drinking water actually is not, according to the institute, a state-appointed group of health and technology researchers tasked with recommending drinking water limits for contaminants in New Jersey.
Congressmen press defense officials on firefighting foams following Friday Unwell Water story:
Three area congressmen are pressing the federal government for more information following a Friday report by this news organization, which cited a document showing makers of firefighting foams and the military discussed serious concerns about the foams in 2001.
Congressmen Brian Fitzpatrick, R-8, of Middletown, Patrick Meehan, R-7, of Upper Darby, and Brendan Boyle, D-13, of Philadelphia, wrote a joint letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday.
PFC Levels Increasing as Lawmakers Form Plan to Pressure Military:
As local lawmakers continue to pressure the military to do more to clean massive groundwater pollution near its bases in Bucks and Montgomery counties, contaminant levels appear to have increased in the past year. That’s according to sampling data published by a number of affected water utilities.
