NY eyes tough rules for PFOA in drinking water

New York state is moving toward what would be the country's strictest standard for regulating a chemical used in fluoropolymer manufacturing, setting levels that would be significantly more stringent than federal guidelines.

New York's action — in the form of a vote from a key advisory committee — means the state is likely joining New Jersey, Vermont and Minnesota to move toward much stricter regulation of perfluorooctanoic acid.

Specifically, New York is considering a legally-enforceable drinking water standard of 10 parts per trillion of PFOA, which state officials said would be the country's toughest, well below the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advisory guideline level of 70 ppt.

The state's Department of Health is now tasked with taking the recommendations from its Drinking Water Quality Council and turning them into regulations.

While a chemical industry trade group criticized New York's action as going beyond what science supports for public health, one high-ranking state government official told a Dec. 18 council hearing that the vote to recommend a 10 ppt standard would protect people.

"I think the work you've done here today will save lives," said Basil Seggos, commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. "This is New York leading. These are unregulated compounds that no one has taken the chance to regulate the way we have, if this comes to pass through regulation. [It's] nation-leading work."

State officials said water contamination from perfluorinated chemicals comes from a wide range of sources, including firefighting foams and coatings on paper packaging, but the fluoropolymer industry has also been identified as a source.

In New York, the issue came to wide public attention in 2016 with contamination around Saint Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. factories in the village of Hoosick Falls, where Saint Gobain paid for water system upgrades.

Nationally, DuPont Co. and Chemours Co. paid $670 million in 2017 to settle thousands of lawsuits over drinking water contamination from their fluoropolymer manufacturing plant in Parkersburg, W.Va.

And in November, Chemours agreed to pay a $12 million fine to North Carolina and spend $100 million to reduce emissions of GenX, a replacement for PFOA, by 99 percent by the end of 2019, from its Fayetteville Works facility. Chemours also agreed to protect drinking wells in impacted areas. The Fayetteville plant began making GenX commercially in 2009.

If New York's tougher standards prompt similar action in other states, it could mean tougher regulation and higher cleanup costs for companies.

Studies have linked PFOA and PFOS exposure to kidney and testicular cancer, low birth weight and liver tissue damage.

State officials said New York's proposed standard would be legally enforceable, unlike the U.S. EPA's national standard, which is advisory. New York is also considering a 10 ppt standard for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS.

The council's decision was generally praised by environmental groups and residents who attended the hearing, although there was a push among them for lower safety thresholds such as a 6 ppt standard and for including more types of perfluorinated chemicals in the state's regulations.

Council members include government and water district officials, along with university professors.

Water district officials said they supported standards to protect public health but also said they had concerns about what remained unknown about levels of PFOA and PFOS in water systems.

New York's state Department of Health estimated that a 10 ppt standard would cost water systems $855 million statewide in treatment upgrades and add $40 million a year to annual operating costs statewide.

"We really don't know what the practical impact will be setting it at 10 for PFOA," said Steven Schindler, director of water quality for New York City's Department of Environmental Protection. "It's challenging for me to support a level even though we want to be very protective of health, and I certainly do as well, not knowing what the outcome of that is going to be statewide."

Some New York residents, including from Hoosick Falls, testified that they had high levels of PFOA in their blood, and one brought her infant daughter in front of the council hearing and said the baby had tested at 75.9 parts per billion of PFOA when she was seven weeks old.

Several residents argued that inaction would lead to more health problems and higher costs for them personally, and they urged the state government to have companies, rather than taxpayers, fund treatment and cleanup.

Elizabeth Moran, environmental policy director for the New York Public Interest Research Group, urged the state to adopt the council's recommendations. NYPIRG and other groups urged New York to go beyond PFOA and PFOS and include more of the thousands of perflourinated chemicals in future rules.

"While this is a national standard that is being set today by New York state, we have to make sure and go forth in good faith to lower these levels down the road," she said. "There's more science coming out that there is likely no level of exposure to these chemicals that is assuredly safe for public health."

Industry said the 10 ppt level is not supported by science.

"All Americans deserve access to safe drinking water," the American Chemistry Council said in a statement. "While we recognize New York state's interest in developing standards for PFOS and PFOA in an effort to protect public health, the proposed levels are not supported by the science and would be difficult for smaller water systems to achieve."

ACC said New York's levels are much lower than EPA's advisory standard and Canada's guidelines of 200 ppt for PFOA and 600 ppt for PFOS.

But in a presentation at the council hearing, New York officials noted that other states are moving beyond the EPA standard.

New Jersey is currently considering a 14 ppt legally enforceable standard for drinking water, Vermont has an enforceable standard of 20 ppt for PFOA, PFOS and three related chemicals, and Minnesota has an advisory standard of 35 ppt for PFOA.

EPA lowered its advisory level for PFOA exposure in drinking water from 400 ppt to 70 ppt in 2016.

ACC said EPA is expected soon to issue a national management plan for the chemicals that's likely to include cleanup levels and to evaluate the need for national standards.

"EPA is best-positioned to provide the public with a comprehensive management plan informed by a full understanding of the risks and benefits of different PFAS chemistries," ACC said.