The full West Virginia House of Delegates will consider a bill that would require the state to find a method to dispose of used firefighting foams that have been among the largest sources of pollution of PFAS — a class of chemicals linked to increased cancer risk.
The House Government Organization Committee advanced House Bill 2860, which would require the State Fire Commission to find a method to dispose of used or accumulated and other aqueous film-forming foam or other class B firefighting foams used on flammable liquids.
PFAS are man-made industrial chemicals used in firefighting foam, food packaging, clothes and other household items. PFAS is an acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
PFAS blood levels of Martinsburg residents participating in a national health assessment were elevated in an area where aqueous film-forming foam containing PFAS was used possibly as early as the 1970s.
HB 2860 states that the method to dispose of aqueous film-forming foam and other class B firefighting foams could include taking it to an accredited disposal company.
A fiscal note submitted by State Fire Marshal Ken Tyree Jr. says there’s a great need for such a disposal program but predicts it could be “extremely costly.” The fiscal note doesn’t include specific estimates, saying it’s difficult to estimate the amount of product there is statewide.
The Government Organization Committee approved HB 2860 Wednesday.
State code prohibits use of class B firefighting foam that contains intentionally added PFAS chemicals unless the use occurs in fire prevention or in response to an emergency firefighting operation or the use is for training or testing at a facility that has implemented foam disposal measures.
Aqueous film-forming foam used at the Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base moved into the groundwater and affected the City of Martinsburg’s Big Springs well years ago, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The City of Martinsburg removed its Big Springs well from service in 2016, and the city began conducting routine monitoring to ensure treatment is effectively removing PFAS, according to an exposure assessment published by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in January 2022.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, performed exposure assessments in Berkeley County in the fall of 2019 after they started testing in communities near current or former military bases known to have had PFAS in their drinking water.
The latter agency did not recommend community members who get their water from the City of Martinsburg or Berkeley County Public Service Water District use alternative water sources.
Blood levels of perfluorohexanesulphonic acid (PFHxS), another PFAS, were 2.5 times higher than the national average among 275 people from 165 households in Martinsburg participating in the 2019 exposure assessment. PFHxS was first detected in Martinsburg’s Big Springs well in 2014, but the agency said that contamination likely began earlier.
The Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base used firefighting foam containing PFAS for training possibly as early as the 1970s, the agency said.
The EPA released interim health advisories last year suggesting some of the most common PFAS are much more dangerous than previously thought.
Legislation has advanced in both the West Virginia Senate and House of Delegates that would require state regulators to identify and address PFAS sources impacting public water systems and require facilities that have recently used PFAS chemicals to report their use to the state.
A U.S. Geological Survey study published in July found high concentrations of two types of PFAS in the Ohio River Valley and the Eastern Panhandle.
Of the raw water samples collected at 279 public water systems throughout West Virginia from June 2019 to May 2021, nearly a fourth had at least one PFAS detected, 47 of which were in groundwater sources and 20 in surface-water sources.
The City of Martinsburg had the study’s second-highest concentration of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, known as PFOS, at 60 parts per trillion — well above the EPA interim health advisory limit of 0.02 parts per trillion for PFOS.
The EPA has said that one part per billion can be thought of as one grain of salt in a swimming pool.
The EPA’s interim health advisory levels aren’t regulations or enforceable. The EPA intends for them to be in place until a national drinking water regulation takes effect.
Legislation that would require the Department of Environmental Protection to write an action plan to address PFAS for the raw water sources for which the Geological Survey study measured prominent PFAS above the EPA’s drinking water human health advisories is scheduled for a House passage vote Friday.
Mike Tony covers energy and the environment. He can be reached at 304-348-1236 or mtony@hdmediallc.com. Follow @Mike__Tony on Twitter.