Are Forever Chemicals in Our Water Supply Really Forever?

 

Fracking chemicals enjoy special exemption under large portion of our environmental protection/ water quality laws and regulations. The BIG OIL is a powerful lobbying/campaign contributing body that wants a free rein in extracting oil and gas. Fracking has made the United States energy independent; we even export oil and gas. But without fracking, none of this could have happened. For example, “In 1987, Congress amended the [Clean Water] Act, requiring the EPA to develop a permitting program for storm water runoff, but the exploration, production, and processing of oil and gas was exempt.” Wikipedia. Even beyond statutory carve outs for fracking chemicals, enforcement of existing regulations is equally lax:

“In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed to protect the quality of U.S. public drinking water and aims to protect above and below ground water sources that are or could potentially be used for human consumption. Section C of the SDWA requires the EPA to establish minimum regulations for state Underground Injection Control Programs. Under part C, Section 1421 of the SDWA, underground injection is ‘the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection.’ The oil and gas industry makes extensive use of Class II injection wells, which are regulated under the SDWA. As of 2022 there are approximately 180,000 Class II wells injecting over 2 billion gallons of fluids daily. Most Class II wells are used for enhanced oil recovery, such as waterfloods. About 20 percent of Class II wells are used in waste disposal, to dispose of produced water, usually brine, into deep formations below the base of fresh water… From the time of the passage of the 1974 SDWA, EPA declined to require Class II UIC permits for hydraulic fracturing.” Hey, it was the price we had to pay for “energy independence,” right?

But fracking chemicals are only a part of the toxicity that permeates so much of the sources of our agricultural and drinking water. It’s not strange, therefore, that assurances from local and federal governmental authorities as to the potability of water are met with such skepticism among those with genuine reason for concern. Especially after disasters that release obviously dangerous substances into the environment. The recent train derailment in Ohio, spilling tons of toxic chemicals into the small-town East Palestine, is a case in point.

Yet we have seen release non-biodegradable toxic chemicals that make their way into streams, rivers, lakes, wells and aquifers for a very long time. The problem is so massive that until now, the EPA has simply looked the other way, perhaps under an assumption that the problems was too pervasive to deal with. That might, however, change. We are talking about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – known as PFAS – which degrade very slowly and are found in the blood of people and animals all over the world.

According to Wikipedia, “Many PFASs were used in the mid-20th century in products and on materials due to their enhanced water-resistant properties, such as within Teflon or aqueous film forming foam. Only since the start of the 21st century has the environmental impact and toxicity to human and mammalian life been studied in depth. PFOS, PFOA and other PFASs are commonly described as persistent organic pollutants because they remain in the environment for long periods of time, and are also known as ‘forever chemicals’. Residues have been detected in humans and wildlife, prompting concern about impacts to health. According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, PFAS exposure is linked to increased risk of dyslipidemia (abnormally high cholesterol), suboptimal antibody response, reduced infant and fetal growth, and higher rates of kidney cancer.” Since they were introduced in the 1940s, these chemicals have accumulated but not dissolved. They are, obviously, toxic.

Finally, despite the magnitude of the problem, our Environmental Protection Agency, still recovering from the massive funding cutbacks and layoffs during the Trump administration, has raised dealing with these toxins to a new and focused plane. Writing on March 15th for the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly explain the new EPA proposal to install “the first federal limits on harmful ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water, a long-awaited protection the agency said would save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses, including cancer.

“The plan would limit toxic PFAS chemicals to the lowest level that tests can detect. PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated substances, are a group of compounds that are widespread, dangerous and expensive to remove from water. They don’t degrade in the environment and are linked to a broad range of health issues, including low birth weight and kidney cancer… ‘The science is clear that long-term exposure to PFAS is linked to significant health risks,’ Radhika Fox, assistant EPA administrator for water, said in an interview… Fox called the federal proposal a ‘transformational change’ for improving the safety of drinking water in the United States. The agency estimates the rule could reduce PFAS exposure for nearly 100 million Americans, decreasing rates of cancer, heart attacks and birth complications…

“[The use of PFAS compounds] is now mostly phased out in the U.S., but some still remain… The proposal would set strict limits of four parts per trillion, the lowest level that can be reliably measured, for two common types of PFAS compounds called PFOA and PFOS. In addition, the EPA wants to regulate the combined amount of four other types of PFAS. Water providers will have to monitor for PFAS.

The Assn. of State Drinking Water Administrators called the proposal “a step in the right direction” but said compliance will be challenging. Despite available federal money, ‘significant rate increases will be required for most of the systems’ that must remove PFAS, the group said Tuesday [3/14]… Environmental and public health advocates have called for federal regulation of PFAS chemicals for years. Over the last decade, the EPA has repeatedly strengthened its protective, voluntary health thresholds for the chemicals but has not imposed limits on water providers… Until now, only a handful of states have issued PFAS regulations, and none has set limits as strict as what the EPA is proposing. By regulating PFOA and PFOS at the minimum amounts that tests can detect, the EPA is proposing the tightest possible standards that are technically feasible, experts said.” Think you don’t have those compounds in your body, think again. Odds are overwhelming that they are in your bloodstream right now.

I’m Peter Dekom, our proclivity to allow and to have allowed big industrial polluters to deal with these toxins with hardly any regulation is only amplified when we learn those toxic chemicals are likely to be with us for a very, very, long time.