- July 12, 2019
Carper Applauds House Passage of PFAS Superfund Amendment
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), released the following statement after the House approved by voice vote an amendment to the defense authorization bill, authored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), designating PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under EPA’s Superfund law.
“Today’s voice vote in the House on the Dingell amendment is clear proof of the widespread, bipartisan support for designating PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law – a move that would unleash federal powers to clean up contaminated drinking water supplies and hold polluters accountable, even when one of those polluters is the Department of Defense. The passage of this amendment follows yesterday’s Environmental Working Group report documenting 712 sites in 49 states that are impacted by PFAS contamination, vividly illustrating the urgency of the problem before us. This issue hits close to home for me, and is one I have worked to champion. I’ll continue to fight alongside Democratic and Republican colleagues to make sure this language, which is a companion to the bipartisan PFAS Action Act I authored in the Senate, is included in the final version of the defense authorization bill. I want to thank Congresswoman Dingell for her amazing leadership and for being my partner in addressing this important issue.”