“Maine is a leader, a national leader in PFAS regulation,” said Kyla Bennett, science policy director for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Speaking on Monday to members of the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee, Bennett said that changes made several years ago have improved the federal regulation of chemicals. But she estimated that it would take more than 48,000 years, at the current pace, to review the current list of chemicals under the agency’s purview. And Bennett said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving too slowly on PFAS for states like Maine to worry about their own laws being preempted.