Sen. Alsobrooks on PFAS Cleanup: Federal Facilities & Private Polluters

Federal Facilities and PFAS Liability

• 🎯 Maryland has proactively addressed PFAS contamination through statewide drinking water testing, surface water sampling, and fish tissue analysis.
• 🔑 The state's goal is to ensure polluters bear the cost of remediation, not the public.
• ⚖️ Senator Alsobrooks questioned how CERCLA's liability framework supports states like Maryland in assigning cleanup costs to responsible actors.

CERCLA's Role in Federal Cleanup

• 🏛️ Miss Bowers explained that CERCLA envisions a robust role for states in enforcement, site listing, and determining appropriate cleanup actions.
• 🔗 Federal facilities, including Department of Defense sites, face the same liability and requirements under CERCLA as private entities.
• 🛡️ The Defense Environmental Restoration Program mandates DoD to address contamination from pollutants, including PFAS, even prior to their hazardous substance designation.

Challenges with Contaminated Sediment

• 🚢 Restoration and navigation projects in the Chesapeake Bay region frequently involve dredging sediment that contains PFOS, particularly near historic military and industrial sites.
• ⚠️ Contractors face challenges in handling and disposing of this sediment, including uncertainty around containment, transportation, and potential regulatory liabilities.
• 💰 The lack of clear concentration thresholds and disposal standards leads to exorbitant cost increases for contractors, with soil needing to be hauled to hazardous waste landfills at much higher rates.

Incineration and PFAS Destruction

• 🔥 Incineration is an approach to destroy PFAS, but concerns exist regarding processes and past permit violations at facilities like the Argonite facility in Utah.
• 🔬 Clean Harbors has conducted extensive testing with the EPA and the state of Utah, proving that high-temperature incineration can properly dispose of PFAS.
• 💰 While high-temperature incineration is a higher cost, it should be utilized for higher concentrations of PFAS in foam and contaminated soils, with more cost-effective solutions available for dredged soils.