PRINTER'S NO. 1873
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
384
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, JUNE 3, 2016
REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, JUNE 3, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Urging the President and the Congress of the United States to
work with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to take all
necessary action to ensure that the communities of Horsham,
Warminster and Warrington Townships in Montgomery and Bucks
Counties have safe drinking water and to direct the United
States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States
Department of Defense to discover the extent of the
contamination problem, provide complete remediation, fully
evaluate the health consequences, and provide assistance to
residents and military personnel who have been impacted by
the water contamination from compounds previously used on
military installations.
WHEREAS, Decades after the United States Navy used an
unregulated contaminant in firefighting training on two former
bases, Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in
Horsham and Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, in Montgomery
and Bucks Counties, the chemicals are appearing in elevated
levels in public and private water wells; and
WHEREAS, The chemicals, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), are used in a variety of products
such as fabric, carpets, nonstick cookware and firefighting
foam; and
WHEREAS, PFOS and PFOA are "extremely persistent in the
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environment and resistant to typical environmental degradation
processes," according the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The EPA also states, "The toxicity, mobility and
bioaccumulation potential of PFOS and PFOA pose potential
adverse effects for the environment and human health"; and
WHEREAS, A growing body of science has established
associations between PFOS and PFOA and a range of health effects
including a variety of cancers; and
WHEREAS, The chemicals were first discovered in local public
water supplies near the former military bases by an EPA testing
program in 2013 and 2014, resulting in a health advisory that
took several public water wells offline; and
WHEREAS, On Thursday, May 19, 2016, the EPA issued an update
to its health advisory for PFOS and PFOA that significantly
reduced the amount considered safe in drinking water. In the
worst possible case, water containing the chemicals at an amount
previously deemed safe would now be more than eight times over
the recommended limits; and
WHEREAS, The new recommended levels have resulted in
officials from the Horsham Water and Sewer Authority, Warminster
Municipal Authority and Warrington Township Water and Sewer
Department shutting down contaminated public drinking water
wells, including 16 municipal wells in Horsham, Warrington and
Warminster Townships and an estimated 80 private wells; and
WHEREAS, While the Senate of Pennsylvania acknowledges the
current efforts of the EPA and the Department of Defense (DOD)
as well as the Department of Environmental Protection to provide
bottled water to local residents, more needs to be done to fully
address this situation; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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urge the President, the Congress of the United States and the
EPA to expeditiously determine if a Federal drinking water
standard should be issued for PFOSs and PFOAs that can be
enforced in the same manner as lead and arsenic; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania urge the President
and the Congress of the United States to work with the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to take all necessary action to
ensure that the communities of Horsham, Warminster and
Warrington Townships in Montgomery and Bucks Counties have safe
drinking water and to direct the EPA and the DOD to use all
their resources to discover the extent of the contamination,
provide complete remediation, fully evaluate the health
consequences and provide assistance to residents and military
personnel who have been impacted by the water contamination from
these former military installations; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania urge the Congress
of the United States to consider the appropriation of additional
funds to the EPA and DOD to address this issue; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
each house of Congress, to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania, to the United States Environmental Protection
Agency and to the United States Department of Defense.
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