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EPA under fire for plan to deal with toxic chemicals in Colorado county’s drinking water

By 02/15/2019 | updated 7 years ago
Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia on Feb. 149. Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday unveiled its long-awaited plan for tackling the toxic chemicals contaminating the Widefield aquifer, immediately coming under fire from environmental groups and some El Paso County residents for not going far enough.

The agency said it would begin the yearslong process of setting a safe drinking water limit for two types of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds by year’s end, while studying the toxicity of other varieties and taking steps to strengthen groundwater cleanup measures across the nation.

Environmental groups across the nation and residents in southern El Paso County criticized the plan for not going far enough to protect them and millions of other Americans whose drinking water sources contain the man-made chemicals.

The plan does nothing to hasten the implementation of a drinking water standard, and it largely ignores all but a couple of types of the chemicals – including those found most commonly in bloodstreams of Security, Widefield and Fountain residents.

Doug Benevento, the EPA’s regional administrator, said the agency is doing all it can to address the toxic chemicals as quickly as legally possible.

“We get it’s frustrating, because people want something done now,” Benevento said.

“And what we are required to do though under the Safe Drinking Water Act is a scientific process – and there’s an economic portion of it too – that we’re required to go through before we make a final determination. And we’re in that process right now.”

The substances, also known as PFAS, are man-made chemicals used for decades in a military firefighting foam, including at Peterson Air Force Base. They also were used in myriad nonstick household products, such as carpet cleaners, Teflon products and fast-food wrappers.

Also called perfluorinated compounds, they have been linked to several health ailments, including cancer, liver disease and high cholesterol.

Specifically, the EPA’s new 72-page plan calls for proposing a “national drinking water regulatory determination” later this year for the two best-known types of perfluorinated compounds, PFOA and PFOS.

Such determinations are considered an opening step for regulating the chemicals and setting a maximum contaminant level – similar to what exists for such chemicals as lead, cyanide and mercury.

Still, it could take three to five years before the chemicals are regulated, said Bob Benson, an EPA toxicologist.

“We are constrained by the laws we’ve been authorized to implement,” Benevento said.

“So we move those processes as quickly as we possibly can, but we are bound by those processes. Or else we end up in court.”

The plan also calls for developing interim groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOA and PFOS this year. And it proposes exploring listing perfluorinated compounds on the nation’s Toxic Release Inventory, while also exploring industrial sources of contamination.

“The EPA’s PFAS Action Plan will be a model for the agency to use when addressing other emerging environmental issues in the future,” Benevento said.

Almost none of it satisfied environmental groups, and southern El Paso County residents were reluctant to offer any praise.

“The word is be patient,” said Jean Smith, 75, a Widefield resident who has high levels of the chemical in her blood. “They still need to back up and look at the people whose health has been impacted.”

The commitment to at least seek a maximum contaminant level for two types of the compounds is heartening, said Liz Rosenbaum, who leads the Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition.

Still, the agency’s plan “really just kicks the can down the road a little bit further,” said David Andrews, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group.

It includes few new initiatives beyond what the agency had previously announced in 2018, he said.

It also includes little in the way of hard deadlines or commitments to do more than “explore” several issues surrounding the chemicals, said Anna Reade, staff scientist with the National Resources Defense Council.

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia on Feb. 149. Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
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Jakob Rodgers, The Gazette

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