Tomorrow at 10 am at the Fountain City Council, the EPA is hosting a community meeting in Fountain, Colorado where they will announce their PFAS national action plan.
More than 130,000 Coloradans have PFAS contamination in their water, and many more may be at risk. Residents of Fountain, living downstream from Peterson Air Force Base, were heavily exposed to PFAS chemicals for decades, including military members and their families. Colorado communities met with EPA in an August 2018 “Listening Session” to demand that EPA take immediate action, including testing more drinking water in the contaminated region and ful disclosing the results to the public.
In advance of the community meeting, quotes are below from the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition and the Pikes Peak Sierra Club Group.
“EPA’s Action Plan is unlikely to address the toxic perfluorinated chemical (PFHxS) that is detected in Fountain Valley residents at concentrations 14-times greater than the general population. My family has suffered terribly from kidney disease, including a child who needed to have a kidney transplant. EPA can’t allow more of these chemicals to be released into our community” -- Mark Favors, of the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition.
"EPA’s Action Plan is sorely needed. Our community is heavily contaminated with PFAS chemicals. EPA must test our urban farms, soil, gardens, livestock, and wildlife for contamination. People are still drinking water from wells and water systems downstream from the plume that have not been tested. We are waiting for strict and enforceable drinking water standards, and long-term commitment to water filtration. Our community has elevated rates of kidney cancer. We need a comprehensive study of the health impacts we have suffered, -- Liz Rosenbaum, Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition
“National action is urgently needed to address a problem that is nationwide in scope. EPA has dragged its feet in ending PFAS emissions and cleaning up polluted communities. To take local remedial action only after people have been exposed these compounds for years or even decades, as has happened with the Widefield Aquifer, is clearly inadequate.” -- Jim Lockhart, Conservation Chair, Pikes Peak Sierra Club Group
“While PFAS are currently exempted from most environmental statutes, EPA has the power to mandate water testing, stop on-going pollution, and clean up contaminated places. Wheeler has turned a blind eye to the problem and is failing to protect the health and safety American families.” -- Sonya Lunder, Senior Toxics Policy Advisor, Sierra Club
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.