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Michigan Oversight Panel OKs Limits on<br />
‘Forever Chemicals’ By John Flesher | AP Environmental Writer<br />
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan oversight panel<br />
Thursday, Feb. 27, endorsed drinking water standards designed<br />
to limit exposure to a group of household and industrial<br />
chemicals linked to a variety of health problems.<br />
The proposed rules would apply to seven compounds in<br />
a category known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl<br />
substances, or PFAS. They have been used for decades in<br />
products ranging from nonstick cookware to stain-resistant<br />
clothing and food containers, as well as foam used to extinguish<br />
jet-fuel fires.<br />
They’re known as “forever chemicals” because they persist<br />
indefinitely in the environment without breaking down.<br />
Members of Congress announced Feb. 27 that the Air Force<br />
would spend $13.5 million cleaning up PFAS water pollution<br />
near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Mich.<br />
Thousands of PFAS compounds have been developed. The<br />
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy<br />
crafted drinking water standards for just seven because<br />
they’re the only ones for which there is enough scientific<br />
data to justify regulation, spokesman Scott Dean said.<br />
Their acceptance by the Environmental Rules Review Committee<br />
was a key step. The state legislature established the<br />
panel in 2018 at the urging of Republicans who described it<br />
as a check on excessively burdensome regulation.<br />
protect Michiganders from contaminants in their drinking<br />
water,” said Liesl Clark, director of the environment department.<br />
The rules still need approval of the legislature’s Joint Committee<br />
on Administrative Rules before taking effect.<br />
They would cover about 2,700 drinking water systems,<br />
requiring them to conduct periodic testing and inform the<br />
public of results.<br />
The environment department forwarded its proposals to the<br />
oversight panel last October. The panel considered them in<br />
two meetings and took public feedback.<br />
While the overwhelming majority of written comments were<br />
supportive, some raised concern about the costs of meeting<br />
the standards or said the rules were put together too quickly.<br />
(Continued on page 24)<br />
GENERATOR SALES, SERVICE & RENTAL<br />
Among its members are representatives of business and industry<br />
sectors including oil and gas, agriculture and manufacturing.<br />
At their urging, the panel delayed action on the PFAS<br />
rules last fall.<br />
But it approved the Feb. 27 proposals on a 8-0 vote, with two<br />
members abstaining.<br />
The decision “shows there is broad support for rules that<br />
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