OSCODA – Congressman Dan Kildee D, Flint Twp., on Monday announced that Oscoda Area Schools will receive a $50,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to bring safe drinking water to students.
The federal grant will help pay to change the school’s water source and connect it to an existing AuSable Township water main after Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) were found near the school’s current water supply.
“Ensuring my constituents, including Oscoda residents, have access to clean drinking water is one of my top priorities in Congress.
“We must do more to urgently address PFAS contamination, as well as provide safe drinking water to those affected.” Plumes of PFAS were recently found on Oscoda Area Schools’ River Road campus, putting the school well in danger of being contaminated if the plumes moved, Kildee said.
+2 +3 “Because of the leadership and guidance of Kildee’s office, we feel extremely fortunate to have worked with the USDA and obtained the resources necessary for Oscoda Area Schools to ensure that our students and community will have safe water sources for years to come,” said Scott Moore, Oscoda Area Schools superintendent.
Kildee said he has repeatedly pushed the Trump Administration and all levels of government to more urgently address PFAS contamination across the country.
Kildee said last month, he and fellow Congressman Upton lead a bipartisan letter calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to strengthen protections for PFAS in drinking water.
Earlier this year, Kildee testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee to urge the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress to do more to clean up toxic contamination, including around former Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda.
Kildee and a bipartisan group of members sent a letter to Administrator Pruitt in December 2017 asking the EPA to do more to help the state of Michigan.
and the DoD’s efforts to address PFAS.