U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz and 12 other members of Florida’s delegation wrote to two top congressmen last week, requesting their committee to press the Environmental Protection Agency on what it is going to do to regulate chemical contamination in drinking water.
A spokesman for Wasserman Schultz said her office sought support for the letter from the entire 27-member delegation.
“We respectfully request that you inquire about EPA’s efforts to establish a drinking water standard for PFOS and PFOA and ask how EPA can improve its oversight and support of state drinking water programs,” she wrote.
“Because these are not yet regulated contaminants, a proper system for monitoring, regulating, and sending notifications for contamination events is not yet in place.” Webster said he didn’t sign because he believes the responsibility falls to Florida’s departments of environmental protection and health.
He made clear that the regulation of PFOS and PFOA, as well as the investigation into contamination, is their responsibility alone.
“We have had several discussions with local and state officials about the issue of water quality in and around the Ocala fire college,” said Yoho’s deputy chief of staff, Kat Cammack.
“We have also consulted with the Florida DEP on potential solutions moving forward.
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Some politicians and environmentalists are urging the state to do more to protect drinking water following a disturbing new report on contamination issues.
A group of GOP lawmakers says that the state’s Drinking Water Quality Council isn’t doing enough to safeguard New York’s drinking water supplies.
They are calling on the council to get back to work in setting standards for harmful contaminants.
The call to action comes as the state comptroller released a water quality report calling on the state to do more to monitor drinking water contaminants.
The state audit raised several concerns.
Environmentalist Adrienne Esposito says toxic chemicals such as 1,4-dioxane, PFOA and PFOS have been discovered in 39 water districts throughout the region.
The chemicals have been linked to cancer and other illnesses.
Gov.
"What we’re saying is that the governor has got to call this commission back to work with the water districts to set proper standards and proper levels so that they can proceed and do their job," said Sen. Carl Marcellino, of Oyster Bay.
The state Health Department issued a statement, which read in part that it remains focused on setting protective maximum contaminant levels for federally unregulated chemicals in drinking water.

House Democratic floor leader Christine Greig, of Farmington Hills, speaks while other House Democrats look on during a news conference, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, in the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. Democrats accuse majority Republicans of "inaction" on the contamination of tap water with old industrial chemicals, a charge the GOP denies.
(AP Photo/David Eggert) The Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday accused majority Republicans of "inaction" on the contamination of tap water with old industrial chemicals, demanding that hearings be held to strengthen Michigan’s standard and to study why an internal state report that warned of dangers was ignored.
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.
The industrial compounds — which were used in products like firefighting foam and carpets — also have been found in at least 34 other sites in 19 communities .
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.
"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.
"Access to clean, safe drinking water is a fundamental right."
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."
"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.

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.
His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20Eggert

The mayor of Flint, Mich., is battling the state’s governor over her city’s access to safe water, three years after intolerable levels of lead were discovered.
Republican Gov.
Mayor, Karen Weaver, threatened to sue the state because she said the city is still reeling from the effects of the crisis.
"You still have a public health issue and you have to protect yourselves, so the need for bottled and filtered water is still real," Weaver said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar.
The governor’s office announced its decision to end free bottled water for Flint after nearly two years of test results showed decreasing lead levels in the city’s running water.
In a statement, Snyder’s office said taxpayers have provided $350 million to Flint, in addition to $100 million the city received from the federal government.
Weaver told Cheddar she will not rest until the medical community signs off on Flint’s water quality.
"You put us in this situation and you need to make us whole and see us getting through this process."
Flint residents have little faith in their water supply, and trust in the government’s ability to address the systemic issues has eroded.
"For a year and a half, we were told the water was good, when people know brown water is bad," said Weaver.

Rick Snyder for an extension of the free bottled water to her city after the Republican governor on Friday ended the program.
Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said Tuesday the governor would meet with Weaver “when his schedule allows.” The state said it plans to close four remaining water bottle distribution centers when supplies are exhausted — which is expected to be this week — following 21 months of state testing that showed lead water levels that are within federal standards.
Weaver said she worries that lead “particulates can get shaken loose” and seep into the water system during construction and water service line replacement efforts.
Lead leached from the city’s aging water lines after Flint switched to corrosive Flint River water in 2014 and the state’s environmental regulators failed to insist on adding anti-corrosion chemicals to the drinking water.
“I think it was a bad decision to cut it abruptly like that, and once the water is gone it’s gone,” she said.
The governor is done (next year).
He could have done it until he’s out of office.” Michigan Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said mid-day Tuesday that all Flint water stations still had bottled water.
“The state is not leaving Flint, it is continuing to pour resources into the city to help it move forward.” The school lead testing has been underway, Weaver said.
“I understand their apprehension,” Meekhof said of Flint residents, “but I think if they’ve got scientific evidence that the water is meeting the quality standard, that’s a good thing.” He added: “I’d go there and drink the water.” But Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement “it seems to me that bottled water distribution in Flint should continue until lead pipes have been replaced and trust in government has been restored.” Schuette, a Republican who is running for governor, is prosecuting several state officials criminally for the Flint crisis and 2014-2015 Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.
“I have more information than probably anybody in Flint, and I don’t trust these people that lied to me to my face,” Ananich said of state regulators and officials who had initially downplayed concerns of Flint water quality.

Officials in Flint, Michigan, are criticizing the state for ending its bottled water distribution program as the city continues to recover from a lead-contaminated water crisis.
Rick Snyder said Friday the state would stop supplying free bottled water to Flint residents, saying water quality there had “tested below action levels of the federal Lead and Copper Rule for nearly two years.” The move sparked swift backlash from the city’s mayor, Karen Weaver, who said the city is still recovering from the crisis that left residents with dangerous levels of lead in their tap water.
“We did not cause the manmade water disaster,” Weaver, a Democrat, said, “therefore adequate resources should continue being provided until the problem is fixed and all the lead and galvanized pipes have been replaced.” Weaver said the state should supply free bottled water until all the city’s lead pipes are replaced.
Weaver, who said she heard about the decision only moments before it was made public, said she planned to contact the governor “to express the insensitivity of the decision” and to make him aware of the city’s “additional needs.” Flint’s chief public health adviser Pamela Pugh echoed the mayor’s concerns.
“We have not received clear steps as to how the remaining lead in Flint schools will be remediated or how ongoing monitoring will continue for our most vulnerable populations,” Pugh said in a statement.
“Additionally, the medical community has continuously raised questions as to how special populations, including nursing and bottle-feeding mothers, will receive bottled water while massive pipe replacement work is ongoing.
“There are still questions that remain,” Pugh added.
“We have worked diligently to restore the water quality & scientific data now proves the water system is stable and the need for bottled water has ended.” Snyder said “ensuring the quality of the water in Flint and helping the people and the city move forward” is a top priority for him and his team, but State Sen. Jim Ananich, a Democrat from Flint, said he questions the administration’s honesty.
“It’s beyond belief that the governor expects the folks in Flint to trust the government now, when they lied to our faces about lead in our water just a few years ago,” Ananich said in a statement.
“We won’t feel safe drinking our water until every bad pipe is replaced, and the administration that caused this disaster needs to make sure bottled water stays available until that happens.”

Gov.
Rick Snyder pitched a plan Thursday to raise $110 million per year to fix Michigan’s busted and rusted water and sewer systems — and to replace lead service lines in the wake of Flint’s water crisis.
The funding source: Michigan ratepayers.
Snyder, a Republican, proposed phasing in a state fee on users of public water systems that serve 1,000 or more people.
The fee would start at $1 and increase by another $1 per year until capping at $5 per year in 2024.
Meanwhile, Snyder is pushing a separate proposal that would require some water utilities to replace all of their lead drinking water service lines lines over 20 years.
Much of the money raised under Snyder’s proposal would go to local grants for lead line replacements.
Though Flint is now internationally associated with Michigan’s failing water infrastructure, it’s far from the only example.
In a press release, Snyder’s office called the added fees “affordable.” The plan requires legislative approval.
On Thursday, Snyder’s office said 80 percent of the extra money from extra water system fees would fund projects in the region that collected it.

Gov. Rick Snyder pitched a plan Thursday to raise $110 million per year to fix Michigan’s busted and rusted water and sewer systems — and to replace lead service lines in the wake of Flint’s water crisis. The funding source: Michigan ratepayers. Snyder, a Republican, proposed phasing in a state fee on users of public water systems that serve 1,000 or more people. The fee would start at $1 and increase by another $1 per year until capping at $5 per year in 2024. “Critical updates are necessary to rebuild our state’s failing water infrastructure,” Snyder said in a statement. “Investing in our state’s water infrastructure needs is essential to ensure every Michigander has access to safe drinking water, protect our environment and continue our state’s outstanding economic growth.” In 2016, a commission assembled by Snyder concluded Michigan was short $800 million per year to meet water and sewer system needs…

By Travis Fain ​The House voted unanimously Wednesday to add $2.3 million to ​the state’s response on GenX and other water quality concerns, but the measure was quickly blasted by Senate leadership, which dubbed the bill a do-nothing effort.
Rep. Ted Davis , R-New Hanover, had been incensed by the Senate’s unwillingness to take up his bill, saying shortly before the House voted that "all I know is that we’re doing something."
The measure becomes one of several major issues dividing the legislature, not across party lines but between Republican majorities in the two chambers.
The House’s GenX proposal includes new funding to buy a high-resolution mass spectrometer in an effort to identify chemicals in state rivers and drinking supplies.
State officials did not immediately respond to WRAL News efforts to confirm what equipment state scientists can already access, as Berger put it, for free.
Berger’s criticism of the bill tracks with some of the complaints offered Wednesday by House Democrats who, though they voted for the bill, argued that it doesn’t go far enough, does’t include near enough funding and simply told scientists to do what they’re already doing.
Sen. Michael Lee , R-New Hanover, whose district draws drinking water affected by the plant, pointed to previous legislative efforts that included $435,000 for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the local water authority to study GenX and ways to remove the chemical from drinking water.
Wednesday was the first day of a special legislative session full of question marks, particularly after a panel of three federal judges declared the state’s congressional map unconstitutional on Tuesday and forbade North Carolina from holding planned U.S. House elections this year until a partisan gerrymander in the maps is addressed.
Legislators not only have new map proposals before them but the possibility of moving to an appointments system where legislators would forward a handful of potential judicial candidates to the governor for consideration.
House Republicans have advanced a measure to add funding, but Senate leadership has generally opposed this, saying Republicans have adequately funded state schools.