{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-joins-25-colleagues-in-push-to-epa-to-drop-effort-to-weaken-health-protections-for-millions-of-americans/", "Senator Murray Joins\u00a025\u00a0Colleagues\u00a0in\u00a0Push to\u00a0EPA to Drop Effort to Weaken Health Protections\u00a0for Millions\u00a0of Americans", "2026-08-18", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "WA", "Patty Murray", "M001111", "www.murray.senate.gov", "murray", "https://www.murray.senate.gov/category/press-releases/", "scraper", "***LETTER HERE***\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, joined 25 of her Democratic colleagues in demanding the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdraw its proposal to roll back drinking water protections\u2014which, if finalized, would remove federal public health limits on the amount of certain PFAS compounds in our drinking water.\n\nThe Senators emphasize in a new letter to the EPA that removing these health limits will expose Americans to unsafe levels of chemicals that have been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, immune suppression problems, developmental harm, thyroid disease, pregnancy complications, and liver damage.\n\n\u201cSafe drinking water is not a partisan issue. Families across the country expect that when they turn on the tap, their water is safe to drink. Congress enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure EPA relies on the best available science to protect public health\u2014not to weaken existing protections once the science has been established,\u201d the Senators wrote.\n\nDespite the administration touting their \u2018Make America Healthy Again\u2019 (MAHA) agenda, if enacted, EPA\u2019s proposal would rescind the 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for PFAS and delay compliance for the PFOA and PFOS standards until 2031 \u2013 putting the health of millions of Americans at risk.\n\n\u201cAs far back as the 1950s, scientists observed that PFAS compounds could accumulate in human bloodstreams. It took decades of advocacy and heroic scientific research to reach the historic moment in 2024 when EPA finally promulgated the very first national drinking water standards for PFAS compounds. We cannot afford to go backwards and make Americans\u2019 health worse,\u201d the Senators concluded.\n\nIn addition to Senator Murray, the letter is signed by U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Edward Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ).\n\nFull text of the letter is available HERE and below:\n\nDear Administrator Zeldin:\n\nWe write in strong opposition to EPA\u2019s proposal to rescind the 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX, and the Hazard Index mixtures, while also delaying compliance for the PFOA and PFOS standards until 2031. These actions would reverse the first-ever national drinking water protections for six of the most dangerous and well-studied PFAS chemicals, despite overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrating that there is no safe level of exposure to many of these chemicals. Furthermore, there is a strong case to be made that this proposal contravenes the Safe Drinking Water Act\u2019s anti-backsliding provision.\n\nThe agency\u2019s proposal is inconsistent with both the scientific record and EPA\u2019s own prior findings. The 2024 drinking water standards followed years of scientific review, public input, and economic analysis. EPA concluded that the standards would protect up to 105 million people from exposure to toxic PFAS in drinking water, prevent thousands of premature deaths, reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses, and generate billions of dollars in public health benefits.\n\nPFAS contamination is one of the most widespread public health concerns facing our nation. Nearly every American has PFAS in their blood, and millions of people continue to rely on drinking water contaminated with these persistent chemicals. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, immune suppression, developmental harm, thyroid disease, pregnancy complications, and liver damage.\n\nEPA has repeatedly stated that protecting Americans from PFAS is a top priority. Yet these proposed rollbacks move in the opposite direction. In addressing revisions to drinking water regulations, the Safe Drinking Water Act itself states that \u201ceach revision shall maintain, or provide for greater, protection of the health of persons.\u201d Rather than strengthening protections, the proposal eliminates enforceable standards for four PFAS entirely and delays protections for the two most prevalent PFAS. Communities living with contamination should not be forced to wait additional years for clean drinking water while polluters and regulated entities receive regulatory relief.\n\nYour agency has suggested that regulating only PFOA and PFOS is sufficient because these chemicals are often found alongside other PFAS. However, EPA\u2019s own scientific record demonstrates otherwise. Other PFAS occur independently, contribute to cumulative health risks, and warrant their own enforceable protections. Removing standards for these contaminants will leave significant gaps in public health protections and create unnecessary uncertainty for water systems and states that have already begun compliance planning.\n\nMoreover, many utilities and states have already invested substantial resources to comply with the 2024 standards using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding and other federal assistance. Weakening the standards now undermines those investments, creates regulatory uncertainty, and penalizes communities that have acted responsibly to protect public health.\n\nSafe drinking water is not a partisan issue. Families across the country expect that when they turn on the tap, their water is safe to drink. Congress enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure EPA relies on the best available science to protect public health\u2014not to weaken existing protections once the science has been established.\n\nWe therefore urge EPA to withdraw its proposal to rescind the 2024 drinking water standards for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX, and the Hazard Index mixtures, reject the proposed delay for the PFOA and PFOS standards, and fully implement the 2024 National Primary Drinking Water Regulations as finalized.\n\nAs far back as the 1950s, scientists observed that PFAS compounds could accumulate in human bloodstreams. It took decades of advocacy and heroic scientific research to reach the historic moment in 2024 when EPA finally promulgated the very first national drinking water standards for PFAS compounds. We cannot afford to go backwards and make Americans\u2019 health worse. Thank you for your consideration.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-19T05:29:02Z", "2026-08-19T05:30:24Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-joins-25-colleagues-in-push-to-epa-to-drop-effort-to-weaken-health-protections-for-millions-of-americans/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.791446167975664, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}