Read the full article by Peter Manitus (Finger Lakes1.com)
“After months of delay, state health officials have scheduled a July 30 vote on proposed enforceable state limits on the highly toxic drinking water pollutants PFOA, PFOS and 1,4-dioxane.
The announcement comes as clean water advocates accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of dragging his feet while other states have moved to set maximum contaminant limits, or MCLs, for the chemical class associated with non-stick products like Teflon.
‘New Jersey and New Hampshire have both taken action to protect drinking water from toxic PFAS during the COVID-19 pandemic,’ said Maureen Cunningham (below), senior director for clean water of Environmental Advocates NY. ‘New Yorkers deserve the same public health protections as our neighbors.’
Only hours before EANY and other environmental activists held a virtual press conference this morning to draw attention to the delays, the state Department of Health announced plans for the scheduled crucial vote.
The PFAS class of chemicals includes thousands of variants, including PFOA, which polluted drinking water in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. That deadly crisis drew national attention to the issue. DOH was heavily criticized for moving too slowly to address the problem.
Hoosick Falls prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to lower its advisory limit for PFOA and related chemicals to 70 parts per trillion. It also pushed Cuomo to appoint a Drinking Water Quality Council that developed proposed maximum contaminant limits of 10 ppt for both PFOA and PFOS, a related compound, and an MCL of 1 part per billion for 1,4-dioxane.
Those proposed limits were among the strictest in the country, but they remain unenforceable until the DOH’s Public Health and Health Planning Council formally adopts them…”