The chair and the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works floated draft legislation in late June on the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS that critics argue would fail to regulate the toxic substances by implementing a restrictive legal definition of the compounds that is more aligned with chemical industry interests than the public health. Notably, the two senators who drafted the legislation are among the Senate’s top recipients of chemical industry donations.
PEER’s Kyla Bennett believes the chemical industry is involved with the new draft bill and previously accused the industry of sponsoring the EPA’s controversial, narrow working definition of the compounds. “While it would seem that EPA’s working definition suddenly appeared out of thin air, we suspect it actually sprung from a chemical industry lobbyist’s pen and the agency is too embarrassed to admit it,” Bennett said in a March statement.
