U.S. Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) has sent a letter to the acting director of the Environment Protection Agency, support a proposal, “Development of an Integrated Framework for PFAS Plume Characterization, Monitoring and Forensics: Airborne and Conventional Geophysical Methods, Phytosampling, and Transport Modeling”.

This proposal developed by Drs. Dogan and Reeves from Western Michigan University and Dr. Hyndman from Michigan State University, hopes to quantify data collected about PFAS contaminants.

In the letter, Upton writes,

The research outlined in this proposal will be used to develop an integrated methodology to generate data on the distribution of PFAS in vegetation, unsaturated and saturated zones, subsurface geology and heterogeneity, characterization of PFAS source releases, and predictions of PFAS migration.

These data are critical for improving our current understanding of PFAS fate and transport and will enhance assessments of PFAS risks to human health. The field locations selected for study are among the highest profile PFAS contaminated sites in Michigan, and this research is intended to alleviate some of the major data and knowledge gaps for these sites.

PFAS contamination has been an ongoing problem in my district, gaining national attention with the incident in Parchment, Michigan last July as well as revelations of levels thousands of times the EPA-recommended limit found at the Battle Creek National Guard Base. The research being done at Western Michigan University and Michigan State University is vital to our understanding of plumes of contaminants and how they affect residents around them.

 

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