A Maine legislator plans to introduce a bill soon that would require the state to meet current federal limits on forever chemicals in public drinking water as fears mount that the White House will roll back the stricter safe-drinking levels set last year.
The Trump administration already has rolled back some limits on the toxic forever chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. In January it withdrew a pending Biden administration plan to set PFAS discharge limits for chemical manufacturers.
The move has worried consumers and local lawmakers that the federal government will gut more PFAS regulations. Rep. Dan Shagoury, D-Hallowell, who initiated the Maine bill, said constituents had told him they were concerned about the fast pace of changes in Washington and how they might affect the safety of their drinking water, which prompted him to write the proposal.
“We have to do it regardless of what the feds do,” Shagoury said.
Hallowell’s public drinking water supply currently meets the state’s standard of no more than 20 parts per trillion of PFAS in one or a combination of six types of PFAS chemicals. That is equivalent to a drop of water in about 20 Olympic swimming pools. The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations call for decreasing that limit fivefold to 4 parts per trillion by 2029, a level Hallowell does not meet.
The Hallowell Water District plans to build a new water treatment facility that can filter out PFAS at the more stringent limit, but it will not come online until 2027, according to News Center Maine. Meantime, it is offering a PFAS-free water spigot on Winthrop Street for customers.
Shagoury said he is still working on the bill’s language and trying to attract co-sponsors in the Maine Legislature. The bill will set the same compliance date as the federal regulation. It also will add two PFAS listed by the EPA for screening in water but that are not among Maine’s current six PFAS, meaning the state would have to test for eight PFAS, he said. There are thousands of PFAS, but the ones being tested are the most studied among them.
He is not the only one anxious about movements in Washington.
“We’re going through a sort of crazy time in Congress,” Rep. Chellie Pingree told the Bangor Daily News when she introduced federal legislation to decrease tariffs on PFAS-free outwear last week. “The Trump administration has a pause on any rulemaking or environmental regulations that were in place during the Biden administration. I think we’re going to see a rollback of a lot of environmental protection.”
Gail Carlson, assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College in Waterville, agreed, saying the new drinking water standards are “really vulnerable” and are not likely to be enforced at the federal level.
“This new administration is not interested in regulating any chemicals,” Carlson said.
Lori Valigra is an environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus investigative team. Reach her at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation, a fund at the Maine Community Foundation, and donations by BDN readers.
