Public notice protocol changes for PFAS investigations to get industry review

May 15—TRAVERSE CITY — Volunteers focused on broadening and hastening state officials' public notice practices for PFAS investigations learned industry leaders want their input considered, too.

The Citizen's Advisory Workgroup members for Michigan's PFAS Action Response Team this week continued to hash out details for their pending recommendation how to improve public notification. During a Tuesday online meeting, the volunteers learned the agency's new director wants feedback from manufacturing representatives.

Abigail Hendershott, MPART executive director, told CAWG members she wants to take their written recommendation on public notice changes to the Michigan Manufacturer's Association to get input. She called it an opportunity for industry to be more transparent. She said this moment can be an "agent for change."

Hendershott told the CAWG the MMA wants its own committee to also work on the state's PFAS investigation notice protocol. She asked for the CAWG's recommendation in writing so she can "springboard" that to further "internal and external stakeholders."

"In the interest of transparency, MPART will share the CAWG's proposed recommendations with other stakeholder groups. One of the critical roles of MPART is to facilitate the sharing of different perspectives and information from these diverse stakeholder groups," Hendershott wrote in a Friday email.

Caroline Liethen, MMA's director of environmental and regulatory policy, confirmed the organization's environmental policy committee wants to review the CAWG's work.

"There are still a lot of questions as the issue develops," she said.

Liethen said this is an "opportunity for clarification that things are done properly and within state regulations," and to understand any newly adopted public notice requirements and how to fulfill them.

Not everyone on the CAWG said they are comfortable with industry representatives having an influence on the public notice issue, though.

Lynn McIntosh, CAWG member from Rockford, said internal alarms went off when Hendershott spoke of getting input from industry officials.

She said the notion of trusting industry "frightens (her) to death" until the state can better hold polluters accountable. In fact, McIntosh said MPART should adopt the workgroup's recommendation without influence from others because "industry voices are already too strong."

Charlie Schlinger, CAWG member from Traverse City, agreed and said he opposes the state taking the CAWG's recommendation to any industry group for review.

"Personally, I think that industry already has an outsized role in what has gone on and continues to go on, and its track record concerning the use of the larger class of PFAS compounds, including AFFF products, is abysmal," he said. "Though their representatives would most likely indicate that what they have done and are doing is entirely within the law."

Bob Potocki, CAWG member from Brighton, said his ears also went up at the idea of broadening the discussion to include manufacturers. He said there could be benefits, but there also could be drawbacks.

"On the one hand, we need all hands on deck to fix the poisoning of our communities. On the other, in today's political climate, it should be expected that corporate interests are not focused on the health of our communities or remedying the poisons dumped and spreading into our waters, our bodies, our children, our neighbors, our pets, wildlife and environment," Potocki said.

Should industry officials offer faster or cheaper testing, improved cleanup techniques or new safeguards, he said that would be great.

But Potocki said the recent announcement of a lawsuit by PFAS manufacturer 3M against Michigan over its PFAS regulatory process, and the backsliding by MPART on its "earlier, more aggressive PFAS responses" leaves him skeptical.

"Please count me on the side of welcoming positive contributions but barring corporate interests and their surrogates planning intentional slowdowns and disruptions," Potocki said.

Ken Harvey, chairperson of the CAWG's engaging the public subcommittee, said written recommendations should be ready by next month's regularly scheduled meeting on June 8.

Subcommittee members agreed by consensus that any PFAS investigation with a potential risk to drinking water sources, whether private wells or public systems, warrants public notice. The suspected number of impacted households should not matter, they agreed.

"Even a single well," said A.J. Birkbeck, CAWG member from Ada. "The simplest trigger is if there is any reasonable chance of residential drinking water impact."

Hendershott reminded CAWG members that at the outset of PFAS investigations, officials typically have very little data; that's OK, at least one workgroup member argued.

"What is not known is also valuable for folks to know," said Daniel Brown, of Ann Arbor. He said a generic public notice at the start of a PFAS probe that acknowledges the uncertainty of each investigation site would be important both as informative and measured.

Birkbeck also outlined the "three legs" of the CAWG's public notice protocol recommendation: all potentially impacted residential households, local government and health departments, and media outlets should all be notified when state officials tell a polluter that an investigation launches.

Multiple CAWG members said they endorsed that recommendation, including Sandy Wynn-Stelt of Belmont who said she likes that three-pronged approach. She did question how state officials will know which residents to notify in each case, but said that can be determined.

The CAWG's work toward a change to the state's public notice protocol for PFAS investigations began last year, but gained traction in recent months after Record-Eagle reporting that showed an eight-month delay between when a probe at Traverse City's aviation area began in February last year in East Bay Township, and when impacted residents were notified in October.

PFAS is an acronym for a group of thousands of manmade chemicals called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used for decades in AFFF firefighting foam, nonstick pots and pans, water-repellent clothing and many other household and personal items. The toxic chemicals have increasingly been found in private and public drinking water supplies across Michigan and the country.

Studies have associated these "forever chemicals" — which are known to build up in bodies and resist breakdown — with certain health problems, including fertility complications, increased risk of cancer and damage to organs such as the liver and thyroid.