May 22, 2018

Manchin Encourages EPA to Take Action on Contaminants that have Impacted West Virginians

Washington, D.C. – Following the PFAS National Leadership Summit and Engagement meeting hosted by the EPA today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) reiterated his support for taking additional steps to address the harmful effects of PFOA and PFAS contamination.   

“While companies that use PFOA – also known as C8 - committed to a phase-out by 2015, decades of use mean that this chemical is still very much present in our environment.  That is unacceptable for our children and it’s unacceptable for future generations.

“In 2016, Parkersburg, Martinsburg and Vienna were faced with the daunting news that their citizens needed alternative drinking water sources due to unacceptable levels of PFOA in their drinking water systems.  The West Virginia Bureau of Public Health (BPH) had to issue a “Do Not Drink” advisory for the town of Vienna because 7 of 8 wells were found to have unacceptably high levels.  And these issues persist in our state. It’s why I led the fight to fix the broken TSCA system so that substances like this wouldn't slip through the cracks and devastate our communities and it’s why I fully support an expedited review of these substances and am encouraged by Administrator Pruitt’s announcement today that he will take additional steps to address these issues,” Senator Manchin said.

In April, Senator Manchin joined 24 of his colleagues in a letter urging Administrator Pruitt to take swift action to protect communities in West Virginia with serious public health concerns related to groundwater contamination from PFAS. In May, he asked the Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to release a study by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) which contains updated conclusions regarding public health risks associated with certain levels of exposure to PFAS.