PFAS Update
PFAS have been discovered in dozens of drinking waters supplies throughout the country resulting in multimillion-dollar clean-up projects or construction of drinking water filtration systems. The PFAS contamination is often linked to a manufacturing facility that stored, used or disposed PFAS-containing materials on-site or an airport or fire-fighting training facility that utilized fire-fighting foam containing PFAS.
In response to the growing awareness of this contamination and the public outcry over health effects associated with PFAS, EPA recently released its first long-term health advisory guidelines for PFOA and PFOS, and states are increasingly beginning to establish their own drinking water standards for these and other PFAS chemicals that are often lower than the federal guidelines.
The widespread contamination of public drinking water supplies with PFAS has resulted in the filing of dozens of lawsuits against the manufacturers and/or users of PFAS by public water suppliers and individuals. These cases seek to hold PFAS manufacturers and others responsible for treatment costs and other damages. Many of these cases that involve PFAS contamination attributable to certain fire-fighting foams have recently been consolidated in a Multi-District Litigation (“MDL”) proceeding in federal court in South Carolina.
This webinar will provide an update to an April 2017 IMLA webinar on this issue and will discuss the extent of PFAS contamination, the evolving regulatory landscape; scientific issues relating to treatment, cost-recovery/affirmative litigation options for municipalities whose drinking water supplies are contaminated with PFAS, and how the new MDL may impact new cases.
Speaker: Robert Bilott & Richard Head