Taking PFAS Demands to Senator Barrasso on Tuesday

A group of peace and environmental activists will be presenting a petition with 6,600 signatures to Sen John Barrasso, (R-WY), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, demanding the passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would force the military to clean up its PFAS contamination in communities across the country.

The activists, organized by World BEYOND War, will meet at 3:00 pm this Tuesday, July 16th at the Dirksen South Convenience Dining Area before heading to Sen. Barrasso’s office (307 Dirksen) to present their demands. JOIN US!

The U.S. military is poisoning people and the environment in and around military bases worldwide when it uses fire-fighting foams during routine fire-training exercises. Per and Poly Flouroalkyl Substances or PFAS are among the deadliest chemicals ever developed. They are used in fire-fighting foams to extinguish massive petroleum fires during routine military training exercises on hundreds of bases around the world. The carcinogenic foam is allowed to leach into groundwater to poison water and sewer systems in adjacent communities. Drinking PFAS-contaminated water contributes to several types of cancer, liver damage, decreased fertility, miscarriages, and increased risk of asthma and thyroid disease.

Since we proffered our petition in support of S 1372 - The PFAS Accountability Act of 2019, a more comprehensive piece of legislation has been included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the House. Last week the House approved the Dingell-Kildee Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to designate PFAS as “hazardous substances” under CERCLA, the Superfund law. This is what needs to happen.

Designating these carcinogens as hazardous substances would require the military to clean up the contamination it has caused across the country. Inclusion of the Dingell-Kildee Amendment to the NDAA would not, however, address the contamination in hundreds of U.S. bases overseas.

The measure must pass the Senate to become law and that means it must go through John Barrasso, the Chairman of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. Barrasso, the Senate’s top recipient of chemical industry cash, is the Pentagon’s point man on contamination. He has denounced the Dingell-Kildee measure. The military and its chemical industry benefactors would be hit with tens of billions of dollars of costs to clean up the widespread contamination - and that’s just in the United States.

Here's the original petition.

Background:
>> CNBC: “The US military's multibillion-dollar PFAS water contamination”
>> Truthout: "House Approves 'Sweeping' Provisions That Target Toxic 'Forever Chemicals'"
>> World BEYOND War: "Profit, Power, and Poison - Barrasso in the Senate"

World BEYOND War is a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. We aim to create awareness of popular support for ending war and to further develop that support. We work to advance the idea of not just preventing any particular war but abolishing the entire institution. We strive to replace a culture of war with one of peace in which nonviolent means of conflict resolution take the place of bloodshed.

World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers, activists, and allied organizations advocating for the abolition of the very institution of war. Our success is driven by a people-powered movement –
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