The Warren Sun

Michigan state officials are seeking to toughen rules for PFAS chemicals in groundwater, while a federal version in the Pentagon’s budget could compel military at bases in the state to do the same.

“It’s basically an insurance policy because the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) really continues to just drag its feet on (establishing) a strong federal standard of any kind,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin said, according to Michigan Radio NPR.

The EPA has the power to establish maximum contaminant levels for chemicals, but currently there are no federal limits for the spillage of PFAS chemicals into groundwater tables. PFAS are chemicals used in a number of applications, including firefighting retardant and as coatings for cooking pans. They are called “forever chemicals” because they remain in the bodies of people who ingest them in drinking water and do not break up in the environment.   

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin | Slotkin.House.gov

Military bases in Michigan, including the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base and the Selfridge Air National Guard Base located in Macomb County, have been sites of contamination.

The NPR report said Michigan state officials are moving toward enacting stricter regulations on PFAS chemicals in drinking water. At the same time, proposed federal legislation in the U.S. House would place a revision introduced by Slotkin to a Pentagon budget under the National Defense Authorization Act. That would require the military, through the Department of Defense, to clean up PFAS chemicals at the bases by following the new state standards.

Michigan’s proposal to set standards regulating maximum levels for PFAS chemicals is currently in the committee stage under the Legislative Council.

Eric Oswald, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said there are approximately 20 drinking water utilities across the state that could be exceeding to-be-adopted new standards for PFAS contamination. He said such departments violating the standards would not be immediately fined, but state officials would work with the water providers to bring them up to compliance.

Fines could come later for continued, deliberate noncompliance, he added.