Andy Levin — Rep. Andy Levin Speaks on House Floor about his PFAS Action Act Amendment

Speaker 1: Thank you Mr. Chairman

My

Speaker 2: amendment requires within five years a comprehensive report to Congress by the Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA regarding the actions the agency will take to clean up and remediate PFAS contamination sites once we pass the important bill before us into law. I'd like to begin by thanking my friend Chairman Pallone and his staff for working with me on this. as well as my fellow Michiganders, Congresswoman Dingell, Congressman Upton, and Congressman Kildee for their bipartisan leadership on this bill. I'm proud that this bill includes my bill co-sponsored with Representative Khanna, the PFAS Safe Disposal Act, which prohibits unsafe incineration of PFAS. We need to ensure that when PFAS chemicals are destroyed by incineration, PFAS particles are not emitted into the air. The monumental effort of PFAS cleanup will be for naught if PFAS is simply transmitted from water and soil into the air we breathe. We in Michigan know all too well of the growing threat that PFAS chemicals pose to our communities and our water resources. They've been linked to cancer, damage to both reproductive and immune systems, developmental issues

and

Speaker 2: changes in liver, immune, and thyroid function. The troubling reality is that both industry and the EPA itself have known about the risks from PFAS chemical for decades, decades. We know, for example, that industry studies have demonstrated the adverse health effects of these chemicals since as early as 1950. That's 70 years ago

We

Speaker 2: also know that even though the EPA has recognized the risks of PFAS since at least 1995, the agency is continuing to allow new PFAS chemicals onto the market to this day. By passing H.R. 535 into law, we can finally begin to reverse decades of the EPA's failure and finally deliver the

Speaker 3: protections impacted communities need in both the short and long term

But

Speaker 2: after decades of the EPA failing to treat this matter with urgency, we need to make sure that the cleanup process that will be set in place once we finally designate PFOA and PFAS as hazarded substances is both timely and effective. My amendment is a common sense transparency and accountability measure that requires the EPA to submit a comprehensive review to Congress after five years of cleanup efforts. The report required by my amendment will include the number of sites that have to be remediated, the types of PFAS chemicals present at each site, an analysis of discrepancies in cleanup between federal and non-federal contamination sites, and more. For the sake of our constituents and after so many years of inexcusable threats to their health, Congress must ensure that EPA's PFAS cleanup efforts are effective. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I reserve

Gentleman reserves the

Speaker 4: balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from Illinois seek recognition? Thank you, Mr. Chairman

Speaker 5: I seek time in opposition and would like to reserve my time

Gentleman is

Speaker 4: recognized, and gentleman reserves. Gentleman

Speaker 6: from Michigan is recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this time, I'd like to yield one minute to the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi

Gentleman from

Speaker 6: California is recognized. Thank

you

Speaker 7: Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and congratulate him on his important amendment, which I hope will be part of this legislation, an important study