Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, who was involved in both appeals, has been sounding the alarm about PFAS in artificial turf for years.
“I actually was sued by an artificial turf company in my individual capacity for saying that artificial turf has PFAS,” Bennett said. “That case was dismissed against me for jurisdictional reasons. But I will continue to say that, because … academics, nonprofits, citizen groups have collectively tested literally dozens of samples of artificial turf. And if the testing is done correctly, we have never seen a lab report that shows no PFAS.”
Those chemicals run off those fields and contaminate surrounding wetlands, Bennett said, adding that the DEP is failing to stop that from happening.
“They seem to have made a determination that because PFAS and microplastics are not specifically mentioned in the Wetlands Protection Act, that therefore they do not have to address them as an alteration of the wetlands or waters under the Wetlands Protection Act,” she said.