Despite Contamination, New Hampshire PFC Bill Fails

Lawmakers in New Hampshire took a stand this year against perfluorinated chemical (PFC) contamination, but the effort ultimately failed to cross the finish line.

“The amended bill, HB 463, which would have required the state to consider tougher standards for acceptable limits of perfluorinated chemicals like perfluorooctanoic acid in drinking water, died [this month] in Concord as a House and Senate conference committee could not agree,” the New Hampshire Union-Leader reported.

“State Rep. Frank Byron, R-Litchfield, was the prime sponsor of the bill. He said it was designed to do one thing — fill a hole in state laws that would address pollution-emitting devices such as smokestacks,” the report said.

The legislation, which was introduced in the New Hampshire House and Senate, would have regulated groundwater pollution, but it stalled before it was finalized.

“This bill was intended to provide New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) with the tools necessary to regulate toxins in air emissions that contaminate soil and groundwater,” Seacoast Online reported.

New Hampshire State Rep. Mindi Messmer called PFCs an "emerging crisis" and called for a policy approach that is "precautionary and proactive" rather than responsive.

“Other states like Vermont (20 ppt), New Jersey (40 ppt and 14 ppt, proposed), Pennsylvania (5 ppt, proposed) and Minnesota just issued revised standards (27 ppt for PFOS and 35 ppt for PFOA),” she wrote in Seacoast Online.

New Hampshire has struggled with PFC contamination of water at various locations.

“Litchfield, Merrimack, Bedford and Amherst residences have been struggling with PFOA contamination in their water after Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics allegedly released the chemical out of its smokestack,” the report said.

A study released this month by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Northeastern University in Boston shows PFCs are found in drinking water for 15 million Americans in 27 states. New Hampshire had at least eight sites where the PFCs were detected, according to the study.

The U.S. EPA issued a health advisory last year about exposure to perfluorinated compounds as various towns wage high-profile battles against the pollutants. PFCs are industrial contaminants, and research has tied them to cancer.

“The 70 ppt level recommended by the EPA [last year] was a dramatic decrease over the agency’s prior, short-term recommended limit of 400 ppt,” The Intelligencer reported.

For more on PFC issues visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.