Date : Wed, 8 Apr 2015 17:42:19 -0400
For Immediate Release
April 08, 2015
Contact Jeff Tittel, 609-558-9100
Water Quality Institute Releases PFOA Report: Will Christie listen?
Lawrenceville- For the second time in five years, the Drinking Water Quality Institute met today and released a report on the known carcinogen PFOA. After public outcry and investigations, the Governor appointed three people to the Institute. Because the Institute has failed to meet, New Jersey has not moved forward on any protective health based standards for drinking water. The failure to move forward has put people and public health at risk. When the Governor first came into office he froze all rules and standards, including those recommended by the Institute. For example he froze and then rescinded the standard for perchlorate. The Institute was also working on standards for PFNA, PFC, chromium and arsenic. The then- head of the Institute Mark Robson resigned in protest because the perchlorate standard was delayed and withdrawn. The Institute met for the first time last year because of public pressure and asked the legislature for an oversight hearing.
"The Drinking Water Quality Institute Reports on PFNA /PFOA is very good report and has important information in it. The issue is with the Governor and if the DEP will continue to side with polluters or move forward to protect our drinking water from these hazardous chemicals. The Report is long overdue. The DWQI finally met today for the second time in five years. The failure to meet is an embarrassment not only to the State of New Jersey but the people who care about protecting our drinking water. Their failure to meet has given cover to this administration's failure to update standards for drinking water and failure to protect public health. Some of the chemicals where we should have acted like PFOA are found in systems throughout New Jersey. This is part of the Christie administration's roll back of protections for the environment. This is the administration siding with polluters and special interests over the environment and public health," said Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club Director. "While we have been waiting, people have been drinking contaminated water. Now that the PFOA report has been released, will it be implemented?"
The Institute sets the standards of acceptable limits for toxins and carcinogens in our drinking water. They look at health base risk assessment to ensure that the water we drink is safe. Many of the chemicals they deal with can be linked to birth defects, childhood development like mercury. The Institute received awards in the past for the work they have done not only saving thousands of lives, but millions of dollars. One of the chemicals they are looking at is PNFA, which is a known to be carcinogenic. There has been public outcry in places like Paulsboro on this chemical that is suffering from compromised water. The Governor is bringing the Institute together because of ongoing investigations by state legislators and environmental groups. Groups like the Sierra Club had threatened to sue since the Institute has not met in years.
"Even though they have finally met again and released the PFOA report, we are concerned the administration will stack the Institute with people who are tied to chemical industry. Instead of having an Institute that works to protect public health they will provide green cover for the Christie administration's roll back to protections for our environment and drinking water. We hope this is not the case, but given their track record it is a real concern," said Jeff Tittel.
In March 2010 the DEP allowed the perchlorate standard to expire under the Governor's Executive Order 1, which froze all rules and regulation.
The standard was frozen then withdrawn. Perchlorate is a chemical found in fertilizer and rocket fuel that has been identified in the drinking water supply. It causes thyroid disorders in children and adults. Perchlorate is especially harmful to pregnant women and fetuses, leading to learning disabilities. The new standard had been in the works for five years before the administration put a moratorium on rules. The chemical PFOA is a carcinogen and has been linked to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children. It has been found in water supplies around the DuPont facility as it is used to make Teflon. Chromium is highly carcinogenic.
His Executive Order 2 calls for no rules stricter than federal standards which would impact the regulation of these compounds in our water. New Jersey law requires a one in a million drinking water standard for cancer while the federal limit is one in 10,000 to one in 100,000 depending on the chemical. The Christie administration has not adopted any new standards while in office.
This administration has had a war on science. They have removed scientists from key positions. The award-winning Division of Science has been downgraded to an Office and a political appointee now heads the Office rather than a scientist. The Science Advisory Board has been stacked with polluters, including DuPont.
Since they have not made any recommendations in five years, the DEP has not adopted any standards. The DEP has not adopted any standards and they can whether the Institute meets or not, though they tend to follow the Institute's lead.
"Their failure to meet has a direct impact on public health. By not recommending any standards for adoption means people are drinking water with higher levels of hazardous or toxic chemicals. It lets the polluters off the hook for paying for cleanup of sites or additional treatment of water supply," said Jeff Tittel. "The Christie administration has given the polluters a holiday for over five years which threatens our drinking water."
This is part of ongoing rollbacks. The DEP has been holding "stakeholder" meetings where important environmental regulations are being rewritten by special interests. DEP's stormwater management, water quality management planning (WQMP), category one, stream buffers, flood hazard areas, and Highlands regulations have been targeted at these meetings. The administration pushed for delays to the WQMP rules and are now using the extra time to rewrite the rules. The Governor continues to attack the Highlands region, which provides drinking water to 5.4 million people, over half of New Jersey's residents, and our major economic industries.
These drinking water standards are also used for groundwater and soil for industrial sites. Failing to update these standards means we are not cleaning sites up to the level they should be cleaned to. They could also stack the Institute with polluters getting rid of its independence and scientific foundation.
"The Institute's failure not to have meetings is another attack by the Christie Administration on science and demonstrates the siding with polluters over public health. When agencies do not meet or boards like the Science Advisory Board Agency are stacked with polluters, it has impacts of public health. As long as we ignore science and do not set standards for polluters, chemical companies are not held accountable. The polluters wind up saving money and real people get affected by toxic chemicals in their water supply," said Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club Director. "A report without implantation is a hallucination."