REGIONAL

_PFAS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS

Regional PFAS Community Engagement Sessions
Background

In October 2021, EPA released its PFAS Strategic Road map, which highlights concrete actions the Agency
will take across a range of environmental media and EPA program offices to protect people and the
environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. In early 2023, EPA held a
series of virtual community engagement sessions for each of its 10 Regions, and an additional session for
Tribes, to share actions taken under the PFAS Strategic Roadmap and to provide an opportunity for
community members to share feedback with EPA.

EPA Region 4 Session Summary

Region 4's community engagement session was held on March 21,2023, and 215 people attended the
session. During the session, Regional Administrator Daniel Blackman spoke about Region 4's actions to
address PFAS, including proactive testing and monitoring and new funding made available through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

During the session, EPA heard from community members, local organizers, local government officials,
nonprofit organizations, riverkeepers, and others about how PFAS have impacted their communities and
their lives. Their statements touched on topics including equity concerns, the need for additional grant and
funding opportunities, regulation of industry, accelerating the pace of federal actions, holding polluters
accountable, personal health effects, PFAS in biosolids, costs that may be imposed on water utilities and
communities, food advisories, usingexistingauthoritiesto take action, private wells, increased
communication and education to the public, soil contamination, regulating PFAS as a class, increasing
testing, source reduction, difficulties faced by overburdened communities, bioaccumulation in animals,
and concerns around enforcement.

Many individuals gave EPAfeedbackon theirequity concerns related to PFAS. EPAheard requests for
additional grants and funding, particularly in overburdened and rural communities, to prevent costs
associated with cleanup and monitoring from being borne by ratepayers. Two individuals from Osceola
County, Florida, spoke about the Narcoossee Dump site, located in their community, where PFAS have been
detected in the soil and groundwater. These community members voiced concerns about getting access to
funding and expressed worry for elderly neighbors who may have been exposed to PFAS over a long period
of time.

EPAalso heard feedbackfrom individuals requesting more federal action. Individuals noted thatwithout
regulations and enforcement on a federal level, many states won't take action. An executive director of a
nonprofit river protection organization spoke about the need for federal regulations for industry using
existing EPAauthorities. "Without national enforcement, a race to the bottom will occur. This will threaten
communities already overburdened by pollution," she said. Some individuals specified that federal action
should hold polluters accountable for costs associated with PFAS pollution.

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Community members also shared personal health effects they have experienced and requested EPA
provide additional advisories around consumption offish, livestock, and game meat that may contain
PFAS. Multiple individuals were concerned about PFAS contamination in soils, and how the presence of
PFAS in biosolids affects farmlands and gardens.

Individuals gave feedback about the need for increased education and communication from EPAon PFAS-
related topics. Community members had questions about how to filter PFAS in private wells, what food is
safe to consume, and how to access funding.

EPA Region 4 is thankful for the feedback provided during this session. Individuals shared valuable stories,
questions, recommendations, concerns, and affirmations about the work that is being done. EPA is
committed to continuing to use this feedback to inform future work under the PFAS Strategic Roadmap.

Region 4 Community Feedback and Ongoing EPA Actions

Under the PFAS Strategic Roadmap, EPA is making progress to address priority areas highlighted in the
feedback shared by Region 4 participants, including:

Ensuring Equity and Environmental Justice: Acritical, ongoing focus for EPA's efforts is ensuring the
protection of disadvantaged communities to ensure that all communities have equitable access to
solutions. In the past year, EPAreceived PFAS recommendations from EPA's National Environmental
Justice Advisory Council, which encouraged EPA in December 2022 to institutionalize EPA's commitment to
PFAS and to pursue its efforts not only within the three focus areas of the PFAS Roadmap (research, restrict,
and remediate) but to also focus on both responding to PFAS and to the resources required to do so.

Funding for PFAS Solutions: President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $10 billion in funding
to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants in water. As EPA highlighted in its November 2022 one-
year PFAS Roadmap progress report, these efforts are making transformational investments in cleaning up
PFAS and other emerging contaminants in water, especially in small or disadvantaged communities. In
February 2023, EPA announced the availability of $2 billion in grant funding to address emerging
contaminants in drinking water in small or disadvantaged communities. These funds are being allocated to
states and territories and will promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged
communities while supporting local economies.

Industry Regulation and Enforcement: In January 2023, EPA released its latest plan for setting
technology-based standards for industries that discharge PFAS, known as Effluent Limitations Guidelines
(ELG). The plan, known as ELG Plan 15, reinforces EPA's existing rulemaking efforts for PFAS manufacturers
and for metal finishers, and announces EPA's plans to proceed with a new rulemaking for PFAS discharges
from landfills. And as EPA continues its work to advance federal leadership on PFAS through final
regulatory standards, EPA remains proactive in using its enforcement tools to better identify and address
PFAS releases at facilities. To ensure continuing focus of PFAS enforcement efforts in the coming years and
across administrations, EPAannounced that "addressingexposure to PFAS" would be one of EPA's six
National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives for Fiscal Years 2024-2027. The key goals of the PFAS
initiative are to achieve site characterization, control ongoing releases that pose a threat to human health
and the environment, ensure compliance with permits and other agreements to prevent and address PFAS
contamination, and address endangerment issues as they arise.

To learn more about EPA's efforts to address PFAS and to watch a full recordingof the community
engagement session, click here.

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