Lee Zeldin Moves to Roll Back Four Drinking Water Limits
The US Environmental Protection Agency said last week it is moving to roll back Biden-era drinking water limits on four Pfas compounds and delay implementation for two more. Lee Zeldin, the agency’s administrator, pushed the plan at a public event billed as a Pfas destruction event.
Lee Zeldin and Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Zeldin appeared with Robert F Kennedy Jr. and industry leaders while promoting advances in destruction technology. Kennedy described the plan as built on "honest science". The announcement puts the focus on whether the administration will rely on treatment technology rather than keeping limits in place for chemicals already found in an estimated 200 million Americans’ drinking water.
Kyla Bennett on Pfas
Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientist and advocate with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, called the idea that the administration could destroy Pfas on a large scale "nonsensical". She said, "No one has said they can destroy Pfas on a large scale" and added, "From what we know about Pfas, this is not going to work, and to say ‘We’re going to destroy it so we don’t need to regulate it’ is bullshit."
What Pfas limits cover
Pfas are a class of at least 16,000 compounds used to make products water-, stain- and grease-resistant. They are dubbed forever chemicals because they can persist for thousands of years in the environment, and they have been linked to cancer, birth defects, decreased immunity, high cholesterol, kidney disease and other serious health problems. The administration’s move cuts against the Biden-era limits now in place for four compounds and delays action on two more.
That leaves a practical question for communities already dealing with contamination: the EPA is pushing a path that depends on destruction technology, but the facts presented at the event do not show that large-scale destruction exists today. In 2023, every soil sample taken across New Hampshire contained Pfas, a sign of how broadly the contamination has spread beyond one water system or one state.
