Item 39 - Resolution Supporting Federal PFAS Legislation

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Template A RESOLUTION OF THE _____YOUR AGENCY____ SUPPORTING FEDERAL PFAS LEGISLATION THAT PROTECTS RATEPAYERS AND WATER/WASTEWATER AGENCIES WHEREAS, PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals created by chemical manufacturers and despite playing no role in releasing PFAS into the environment, cities and water agencies must find ways to remove them from local water supplies; and, WHEREAS, PFAS have been detected in the Orange County Groundwater Basin, managed by Orange County Water District, and are estimated to cost Orange County more than $1 billion, over 30 years—a cost that will likely increase; and, WHEREAS, Ratepayers are at risk from pending PFAS legislation and associated PFAS costs and water agencies and stakeholders must take action to inform members of Congress of these devastating impacts; and, THEREFORE, All PFAS related legislation must exempt water and wastewater agencies from any liability for PFAS cleanup costs; and, WHEREAS, A water utility that complies with applicable and appropriate federal management and treatment standards must not be responsible for current and future costs associated with a PFAS cleanup; and, WHEREAS, Given the potential for federal legislation, such as the PFAS Action Act of 2021 (H.R. 2467), to expose water agencies, that simply receive and treat water supplies, with across-the-board liability for PFAS-related cleanups when they have no responsibility for the presence of PFAS, an explicit exemption from Superfund clean-up liability must be made for water and wastewater agencies; and, WHEREAS, Under existing law, the USEPA ensures that public health benefits of new drinking water standards are reasonably balanced with the compliance costs that water system ratepayers will ultimately incur and eliminating this analysis would burden ratepayers of all income levels with astronomical costs to comply with drinking water standards; and, WHEREAS, Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act should not delete the longstanding cost-benefit analysis; and, WHEREAS, OCWD supports providing direct grant funding for PFAS remediation to water and wastewater agencies as provided in the Senate-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684); and, NOW, THEREFORE, let it be resolved that the Board of Directors of the _____Your Agency____ hereby supports these federal PFAS policy principles to protect water/wastewater agencies and their ratepayers and, FURTHERMORE, we call upon the Orange County Congressional Delegation and California Senatorial Delegation to cast votes implementing these public policy positions. Adopted: Date cc: Orange County Water District