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Eight Sites Have Been Picked for PFAS Exposure Study
Eight sites have been chosen for a study that will assess exposure to per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services. PFAS are man-made chemicals that have been in use since the 1950's and can be found in non-stick cookware, water-repellent clothing, and firefighting foam and they have been known to cause health problems. The goal of the assessment is to deliver information to people living near these sites about the level of PFAS in their system. "The assessments will generate information about exposure to PFAS in affected communities and will extend beyond the communities identified, as the lessons learned can also be applied to communities facing similar PFAS drinking water exposures," said Dr. Patrick Breysse, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The study will include residents from Berkeley County, W.Va., near Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base; El Paso County, Colo., near Peterson Air Force Base; Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, near Eielson Air Force Base; Hampden County, Mass., near Barnes Air National Guard Base; Lubbock County, Texas, near Reese Technology Center; Orange County, N.Y., near Stewart Air National Guard Base; New Castle County, Del., near New Castle Air National Guard Base and Spokane County, Wash., near Fairchild Air Force Base. All the communities that were chosen are near current or former military installations.
For more informati
on, please con
tact
Dr. Sri Vedachalam
, Director of the Safe Drinking Water Research and Policy Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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EPA Solicits Nominations to Reestablish the Great Lakes Advisory Board
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published notice in the Federal Register that it is accepting nominations for candidates to serve on the reestablished Great Lakes Advisory Board (GLAB). GLAB is one of EPA's Federal Advisory Committees, and provides advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator, through the Great Lakes National Program Manager, on matters related to implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the U.S. and Canada.
According to the announcement, nominees should have experience with Great Lakes issues; leadership and consensus-building experience in Great Lakes organizations, businesses and work groups; membership in professional societies involved with Great Lakes issues; academic leadership and expertise; community leadership; and representation of multiple constituencies within the Great Lakes basin. More details can be found
here.
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116th Congress: Committee Leadership Profiles
As the 116th Congress gets into full swing in the coming weeks, the Northeast-Midwest Institute will profile the Chair and Ranking Member of the Congressional committees most relevant to the region. This newsletter will include the House Committee on Appropriations.
Rep. Nita Lowey, Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee :
Nita Lowey is the U.S. State Representative for New York's 17th Congressional district. Lowey has been serving in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1989, making this her fifteenth term in office. Lowey is the first woman to serve as Chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations from either party. Before becoming a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, she was the Assistant Secretary of State for the state of New York. According to her website she, "is a leading Congressional proponent of educational opportunity, health care quality and biomedical research, improved homeland security preparedness, stricter public safety laws, environmental protection, women's issues, a leading international role for the United States, and national security." As Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Lowey plans to "invest responsibly to grow the economy, create jobs, and secure the nation."
Rep. Kay Granger, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Appropriations:
Norvell Kay Granger is the U.S. State Representative for Texas's 12th Congressional district. Granger has been serving in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997; she is also the first Republican woman to represent Texas in the U.S. House. Furthermore, she became the first female mayor of Fort Worth, Texas in 1991. Her website states her goals as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee as being, "responsible for advocating for Republican Members and working with House leadership, the Senate and the White House to ensure the priorities of the American people are funded." Granger was previously Chairwoman of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee; there she worked diligently to ensure that the military, service members, and military families were supported with necessary funding.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
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2020 Candidate Profiles: Senator Bernie Sanders, Potential Democratic Nominee for President of the United States
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders is the Junior Senator from Vermont; he is serving his second term and was first elected to the Senate in 2007. He previously served as the State Representative of Vermont for 16 years and is now the longest-serving Independent member of Congress in history. He has an extensive legislative history of voting for and introducing progressive bills. Senator Sanders is a strong believer in climate change and a proponent of passing strong environmental protection policies. According to his official Senate website, "He serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he has focused on global warming and rebuilding our nation's crumbling infrastructure; and he is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he has championed efforts to transform our energy system from fossil fuels to renewable power sources like solar and wind."
Sanders previously introduced a number of different bills that focused on protecting the environment including the Climate Protection and Justice Act (S.2399), which aimed to tax ethane and carbon emissions from oil, coal, and natural gas at the source of production and to use the revenue to invest in energy efficiency and sustainable energy. He now favors the Green New Deal, which is a progressive plan that was created with the intention of overhauling the U.S. economy in order to invest in green infrastructure and jobs.
For more information, please contact Eric Heath, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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This Week in Washington
In the Senate:
In the House:
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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