Today the House of Representatives passed Congressman Mike Turner’s (OH-10) amendment to require the Secretary of Defense to share monitoring data relating to perfluoroalkyl substances, polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and other contaminants collected on military installations with local cities or municipal drinking water utilities located adjacent to military installations.
“My community of Dayton, Ohio, is anchored by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” Turner said. “Our base, like many others around the nation, continues to deal with the detection of PFAS in our groundwater. The most basic need of any community is access to safe, clean water. Today’s passage of my amendment will provide greater transparency to communities like mine to reduce PFAS in our water.”
Background
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft report examining the health effects of exposure to the chemicals, which were also identified in groundwater near more than 126 military installations around the country, including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base located in Turner’s district.
Turner has been a consistent advocate of clean water, writing to then-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and the White House calling for an immediate public release of a study conducted by HHS focusing on water contamination after reports that the EPA was blocking the study’s release.
In May of 2018, Turner wrote to (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar calling for the release of its study evaluating the harmful effects of PFAS contaminants.
In April of this year, Turner created a water quality evaluation panel with Miami Valley community leaders to complete an independent review of Dayton’s water quality standards.
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