WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) led a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calling on the agency to scrap its proposed rule that would classify certain PFAS as "hazardous substances" under the federal Superfund law, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA).
The PFAS, or polyfluoroalkyl substances, that are classified under CERCLA are not used by farmers but known to exist and travel naturally through the environment onto farms. In states with stringent PFAS laws, farmers have found themselves in financial ruin when these substances are discovered on their farmland.
"My letter to the EPA is simply a request to use common sense and think about the ramifications of their decisions. Across the country, farmers have been put in jeopardy of losing their livelihoods because of aggressive state-level PFAS regulations. It is my hope that the EPA consider the financial risks they are asking to shoulder with this misguided regulation," said Congresswoman Harshbarger.
This letter encourages the EPA to consider these circumstances when finalizing rulemaking that could be detrimental to American farmers.
In part, the letter reads: "...It is important to recognize that farmers are passive receivers, they do not produce or use PFOA or PFOS in their operations. PFOA and PFOS travel naturally through the environment onto farmland. If the EPA finalizes this rulemaking, farmers who have their land become a CERCLA site will have the potential not only to lose the economic value of their land but also the loss of production and profits. In states that have aggressive, anti-PFAS laws and regulations, we have seen farmers experience significant hardships from unintentional contamination..."
Read the full letterHERE.