As President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency plans to reconsider drinking water regulations on PFAS chemicals, Louisville’s congressman wants the head of the agency to consider how weakening restrictions could endanger his constituents.
In a letter sent Thursday to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey said the “responsibility of preventing PFAS from entering the waterways ultimately lies with the polluters themselves."
As an example of the problem, McGarvey pointed to an incident late last year, when Louisville Water Co. detected an unusually high level of a forever chemical HFPO-DA in a sample of the untreated Ohio River water the utility processes into customers’ drinking water.
KyCIR reported earlier this week how Louisville Water Co. noticed a 15-fold spike last December in the amount of HFPO-DA, often called GenX, in the untreated drinking water supply it pulls from the Ohio. Utility staff determined the increase corresponded with GenX discharges from The Chemours Co.’s Washington Works facility, about 400 miles upstream.
Chemours disputed the correlation in federal court filings. A West Virginia environmental group filed a lawsuit in December and is asking the court to stop the company from exceeding the amount of PFAS it’s legally permitted to release into the Ohio River. In court filings, Chemours officials said the company is working with government regulators on the permitting issue.
McGarvey, in a statement Thursday, said his office spent weeks looking into the local GenX spike, talking to “relevant stakeholders” who share his concerns before sending his letter to the EPA.
An EPA spokesperson told KyCIR the agency “is reviewing the congressman’s letter and will respond through the appropriate channels.”
In a statement, Cassie Olszewski, a Chemours spokesperson, said the company supports the EPA's "willingness to review and correct the underlying science for HFPO-DA."
Olszewski said the EPA’s “previous determination for HFPO-DA was flawed.”
"There’s substantial evidence showing that EPA, under the previous Administration, used flawed science and didn’t follow proper rulemaking procedures," she said. "To be clear, Chemours wholly supports setting reasonable and scientifically-justified MCLs [maximum contaminant levels], but getting the science right is absolutely critical.”
Thousands of chemicals like GenX, known collectively as PFAS, have been a key component in manufacturing for decades because they repel water and oil. But research has linked certain types of these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to serious health risks.
PFAS are nicknamed forever chemicals because they are long-lasting, now littering the soil, water and air of countless communities.
In his letter to the EPA, McGarvey noted GenX was developed as an alternative to one of the most infamous types of PFAS, called PFOA.
KyCIR reported earlier this week on data that show PFOA’s presence in Louisville’s drinking water is steady, but below a future federal limit.
The EPA finalized regulations last year, under former President Joe Biden, to limit the amount of PFOA, GenX and four other types of PFAS that will be allowed in drinking water, due to the health risks. But the Trump administration is looking to rescind and reconsider the restrictions on four of those six chemicals, including GenX. The administration will retain the upcoming limit on PFOA, although it intends to delay the deadline for utilities to comply.
McGarvey urged the head of the EPA to “carefully consider” how loosening the restrictions on PFAS pollution, especially GenX, could impact communities like his.
“GenX chemicals have been found in surface water, groundwater, drinking water, rainwater and air emissions,” McGarvey wrote. “Studies have revealed that GenX consumption can have adverse effects on the liver, kidneys, immune system, offspring development and an association with cancer.”
The federal government’s drinking water safety limits on PFAS aren’t set to go into effect for several years. If the EPA ultimately weakens the regulations, McGarvey said that would reduce protections for Kentuckians.
If that happens, he asked Zeldin, the EPA’s leader, to provide his “plan to prevent the continued release of PFAS pollutants into their waterways in the first place and how to hold polluters accountable for alarming spikes” like the one Louisville Water Co. identified late last year.
