PFAS regulations face hurdle
Rules for firefighting foam containing “forever chemicals” are on hold after lobbying group pushes back.
Wisconsin will take its first step toward regulating “forever chemicals” next month with a law requiring firefighting foam containing the chemicals to be fully treated and disposed of, but the law will be without enforcement standards.
Act 101 will take effect Tuesday, banning firefighting foam containing PFAS except in the case of emergency situations such as fires at airports or oil refineries, or in the case of testing facilities with proper treatment facilities.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of man-made chemicals used for their water- and stain-resistant qualities in products like clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam. The chemicals are persistent, remaining both in the environment and human body over time. Accumulation of the chemicals in the body can cause cancer, studies have shown, or other adverse health effects.
Work is left to be done on the bill, said Darsi Foss, the administrator of the environmental management division for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. When lawmakers passed the bill earlier this year, they left the determination of “appropriate measures of capture, containment and destruction” up to the DNR.
That responsibility then fell to the Natural Resources Board, the lawmaking arm of the DNR. For the past two months, the board listened to presentations on an emergency rule, which would set those measures, but this month voted 7-0 to postpone a decision after negative feedback on the proposed rules from industry groups.
The board found the rule to be overbearing, board President Frederick Prehn said.
“We just need to get everyone on the same track,” he said of the DNR and stakeholders.
Without that emergency rule in place, Foss said, there will be some con
fusion as to how Act 101 will be applied to businesses using or testing firefighting foams containing PFAS.
“That leaves fire departments, business and airports that are testing their foams not knowing whether they’re in compliance or not,” she said.
Among the groups pushing back on the measure were the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the Wisconsin Paper Council and the Wisconsin Food Products Association. The groups, who expressed their concern in a pages-long letter, said the amount of chemicals allowed in the water leaving industrial facilities through wastewater systems was too small, making the guidelines nearly impossible to adhere to.
Working to lower PFAS use
One of the companies concerned over the limitations of PFAS is Tyco Fire Products, a subsidiary of Johnson Controls, based in Marinette.
At its facility, the company mixes firefighting foams containing PFAS and tests them onsite. Testing began in 1962 and was conducted outdoors until public scrutiny regarding PFAS in drinking water in the surrounding communities pushed the company to move testing indoors in 2017. Now, the company captures the foam and it is taken out of state for disposal, instead of flushing the foam into the sewer system.
The company has been under pressure for years regarding its use of PFAS and the ongoing cleanup in both Marinette and Peshtigo, where residents are concerned about the impact of the pollution on their quality of life.
The company has been providing bottled drinking water to more than 100 homes in the Marinette and nearby Peshtigo area to keep residents safe from the chemicals that have leeched into wells from the facility.
Katie McGinty, vice president and chief sustainability, government and regulatory officer for Johnson Controls, said the company is fully on board with Act 101 and working to ensure that PFAS aren’t being released into the environment. But the company is concerned that the standards set forth in the emergency rule are too stringent, as they’re lower than 20 parts per trillion, the level deemed safe for drinking water in Wisconsin.
That means, she said, that the water from the Johnson Controls facility going into storm sewers and the wastewater treatment sewers would have to contain lower levels of PFAS than most drinking water sources do.
“We fully support Wisconsin’s commitment to clean water — that has been our number one focus with regard to PFAS issues,” she wrote in a statement. “But the WDNR is setting limits it has no authority to set and contradict even the Wisconsin Department of Health’s recommended standards, which are among the most conservative in the nation.”
Despite the company’s concerns over the emergency rule, she said, Johnson Controls is working toward lowering the amount of PFAS coming from the facility. The company is building an $11 million facility dedicated to creating a firefighting foam that is more environmentally friendly.
Advocates see careless disregard
Doug Oitzinger, a Marinette resident advocating for the elimination of PFAS, is worried the DNR Board is bowing to the demands of corporate interests without taking into consideration the impact of PFAS contamination on people.
“It’s nerve-wracking for families,” he said.
Oitzinger, a Marinette alderman and former Marinette mayor, has been working since 2017 as a part of the advocacy group S.O.H2O — known as Save Our Water — to achieve legislation protecting people in Wisconsin from having the level of contamination his community is dealing with.
After hearing the board voted to return to the issue in late September, Oitzinger immediately wrote a letter to the DNR and the board.
“We don’t want any other community to go through what we are going through. The only way to ensure this is to prevent the reckless discharge and disposal of firefighting foam containing PFAS into our sewers and into our environment,” he wrote.
He hopes to see the board take up the emergency rule and pass it in September, and he hopes industry members holding up the rule take time to consider the message they’re sending to residents of the state.
“I view this action by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and their coalition partners as more careless disregard for the health and safety of our communities and our environment,” he said. “They want to make the argument that the DNR is moving too fast and is too extreme and it will cost all kinds of money to comply with regulations. Well, it’s costing all kinds of money, and it has a human toll on all of us that live on contaminated property.”
Laura Olah founded the organization Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger after learning of contamination close to her home near the decommissioned Badger Ammunition plant outside of Baraboo.
She said there need to be regulations in place to prevent corporations from releasing toxins that only hurt the people who rely on water from their wells.
“We believe that the goal should be zero discharge,” she said. “Contamination is so widespread because it’s been put into the sanitary sewer system and wasn’t treated.”
A good first step
Foss, the DNR administrator, sees positives coming from the beginning of legislation of PFAS chemicals.
“I think what we’re seeing is a higher degree of awareness of implications of foam with PFAS, and concerns that folks have about it being discharged or people coming into contact with it,” she said. “I do see some fire departments, in De Pere, La Crosse and Madison, have started moving away from (PFAS-containing) foams.”