The renewed calls came a day before the GOP-led Legislature was to return to session after a summer break during which residents in the city of Parchment and Cooper Township in Kalamazoo County were told not to drink their municipal water for a month due to high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Rep. Winnie Brinks, a Grand Rapids Democrat, said at a Capitol news conference that the state does not have an enforceable PFAS limit established in law, and the combined standard of 70 parts per trillion — set by Gov.
Rick Snyder’s administration in January and which mirrors a federal advisory level set in 2016 — should be 5 parts per trillion.
"This cap would be the lowest in the country and would ensure that the water coming out of Michiganders’ taps is worth of being called pure," said Brinks, who introduced legislation in December to lower the PFAS standard.
A response team created by the Republican governor last year is reviewing the science and may make a recommendation on the PFAS standard.
Asked why no hearings have been held, spokesman for GOP House Speaker Tom Leonard said Republicans "are focused on getting the state’s emergency response up and running first."
Gideon D’Assandro said lawmakers have allocated more than $60 million for lab equipment, initial cleanup, health care and getting boots on the ground in affected communities.
"The state is still working on testing water systems statewide and finding affected communities, and the Legislature’s focus needs to remain on this emergency testing and response until experts can determine the extent of the problem," D’Assandro said in a statement.
Snyder — who is pushing a fee increase to in part help clean up PFAS sites — said last week that the reason Michigan is finding the man-made chemicals is because it is proactively testing for them unlike in other states, after learning lessons from the Flint water crisis.
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