Public hearing on PFAS today @ 1pm. Plus, CORRECTION to public comment info.

 

This is a reminder about today’s public hearing about a new proposal from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to regulate only a small subset of PFAS chemicals in our drinking water, rather than the thousands of chemicals that fall within the PFAS class of chemicals.   The hearing is today, October 16 at 1pm. Here’s how to access it virtually: dec.vermont.gov/water/drinking-water/pfas. You are also invited to submit public comment about this issue. In the previous email we gave you an incorrect name/email for submission. We apologize for that error. Please send your comment to Ben Montross, Acting Assistant Director of ANR’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division. Click here to email him at ben.montross@vermont.gov. Tell him in your email that: You are concerned about the threat of PFAS chemicals in drinking water You are disappointed and concerned about ANR’s unwillingness to address the entire class of PFAS chemicals, which will leave Vermonters’ health at risk from drinking PFAS-contaminated drinking water Thank you for your concern and action. Please find additional background information below. Jon Groveman Policy and Water Program Director jgroveman@vnrc.org Vermont Natural Resources Council   Background: PFAS chemicals have been found in some Vermonters’ drinking water sources, and these chemicals are linked to harmful health impacts including high blood pressure, thyroid disease, kidney and testicular cancers, and suppressed immune system function. To make matters worse, these health effects can cause the body to react with a heightened response to immune system insults, such as COVID-19 infection. We know that PFAS chemicals pose significant threats to human health and the environment – and that we can’t regulate them one by one. Since we first discovered drinking water contamination in Bennington, we’ve learned that there are thousands of PFAS chemicals. They must ALL be regulated to protect Vermonters