Read the full article by Sheri Mcwhirter (Traverse City Record Eagle)
“TRAVERSE CITY — The public has through month’s end to comment on Michigan’s proposed PFAS concentration limits for drinking water, including opportunities at public hearings.
The state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy will accept public comments on the proposed maximum contaminant levels for PFAS chemicals through Jan. 31. Officials also have yet to host the last two of three public hearings, first on Tuesday in Ann Arbor and then on Thursday in Roscommon.
The first public hearing was on Jan. 8 in Grand Rapids, not far from the state’s biggest PFAS contamination site, associated with the Wolverine Worldwide’s former tannery. About 150 people attended.
The hope is for that strong level of public participation to continue, said Steve Sliver, executive director of Michigan’s PFAS Action Response Team…
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered state officials to develop enforceable state regulations to protect residents from PFAS contamination in drinking water as federal environmental regulators dragged their feet. She set a deadline of May this year for Michigan.
‘We’re still on target to get those promulgated standards,’ Sliver said.
Lacey Stephan, Grayling Township supervisor, said he intends to attend the state’s public hearing in Roscommon to listen, and perhaps even testify if he feels it’s necessary…
Hundreds of Grayling Township residents are affected by PFAS contamination in the groundwater, the result of decades of firefighters and emergency responders using and practicing at Camp Grayling with a type of firefighting foam that contains the toxic stuff.
Michigan Army National Guard officials have repeatedly confirmed that federal military coffers will pay for safe drinking water solutions for all residents whose well water tests beyond the state’s new standards, once those rules are finalized.
Currently, only Grayling Township homes with well water that tested beyond a federal advisory level for PFAS chemicals will be connected to clean water….
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established a non-binding advisory level of 70 parts per trillion for just two of the thousands of chemicals in the PFAS family — PFOA and PFOS. Other states have set more stringent levels.
Minnesota, New Jersey and New York have lower established or proposed thresholds for PFOS at 15 ppt, 13 ppt and 10 ppt, respectively. But Michigan stands to have the lowest numbers for PFOA at 8 ppt and PFNA at 6 ppt, should those recommendation levels be adopted…”