FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 9/1/2018
Contact: info@robdavidsonforcongress.com
WZZM: Rep. Huizenga, candidate Davidson react to PFAS found in Grand Haven
Davidson calls on Congress to end inaction on drinking water safety after PFAS found in Grand Haven supply
SPRING LAKE, Michigan — Emergency physician and congressional candidate Rob Davidson called on Congress to take stronger steps to protect Michigan’s drinking water supply after PFAS was found in drinking water in Grand Haven, mlive.com reported today. Davidson said Congress must fully fund the Environmental Protection Agency, strengthen safeguards against toxic chemicals like PFAS in drinking water and stand up to the Trump Administration's efforts to slash clean air and water protections.
“Families across West Michigan demand and deserve clean water that they can feel confident drinking and giving to their children, yet Congress continues to look the other way while our water infrastructure crumbles and corporate polluters continue to let toxic chemicals like PFAS poison our lakes and water supplies,” Davidson said. “Clean drinking water is vital to public health. Washington’s culture of corruption that puts campaign donors ahead of ordinary people must stop. We must put the safety and wellbeing of our families and children first, and inaction is simply unacceptable.”
Davidson supports
§ Fully funding the EPA to ensure that it can aggressively and comprehensively test water supplies.
§ Holding corporate polluters accountable by making them pay for cleanups when they contaminate our water, air and land;
§ Rebuilding municipal water infrastructure; and
§ Strengthening public health safeguards and more stringent standards against toxic chemicals such as PFAS, which experts say is too lax.
Davidson, who has been endorsed by Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club, is running in the Second Congressional District against Congressman Bill Huizenga, who has voted to cut funds for the EPA and accepted campaign contributions from corporate polluters. Wolverine CEO Blake Krueger gave Huizenga $2,700, maximum allowed individual contribution before the Aug. 7 primary; his wife, Mary, also gave $2,700. The donations to Huizenga – who slashed environmental protection funding and has not acted on the PFAS issue – were made in June 2018.
Huizenga has repeatedly voted against safeguarding water, air and land protections, including voting to cut funding by $1.9 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Huizenga has not signed a bipartisan congressional letter demanding stronger safeguards against chemical contamination of drinking water. In a recent interview, Huizenga said manufacturers who use chemicals such as PFAS should not be held accountable for contamination; in the same interview, he said the blame should all on consumers of the product, such as Wolverine.
Mlive.com reported today:
The water supply serving Grand Haven and surrounding municipalities contains toxic per- and polyfluorinated compounds called PFAS.
Test results of Northwest Ottawa Water System municipal tap water show PFOS and PFOA, two PFAS compounds, at combined levels of 8-parts per trillion -- about nine times below the federal lifetime health advisory of 70-parts per trillion, or ppt.
Two other PFAS compounds detected were PFHpA at 5.5-ppt and PFHxA at 6.8-ppt. There are currently no federal health advisories for either compound.
The combined PFAS levels in the water are 20.3-ppt.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked in human studies to some cancers, thyroid disorders, elevated cholesterol and other diseases. PFAS compounds are called "forever chemicals" because they accumulate in the body and do not breakdown in the environment.
The water system serves about 40,000 people across Grand Haven, Grand Haven Township, Ferrysburg, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Township and Crockery Township.
Experts have warned for years about the dangers of PFAs pollution and say PFAs contamination represents the next major water poisoning catastrophe. Their warning remain largely ignored, including their appeals for more funding to tackle the contamination.
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