4/29/22 
Massachusetts Legislature Releases PFAS Task Force Report

On April 20, 2022, the Massachusetts Interagency Task Force held its final public meeting and voted unanimously to approve “PFAS in the Commonwealth: Final Report of the PFAS Interagency Task Force”.  The report provides a policy framework with a total of 30 recommendations broken into eight broad “measures” aiming to address PFAS contamination in Massachusetts.  Those measures include:

  1. Fund PFAS Detection and Remediation

  2. Support Environmental Justice Communities

  3. Phase Out PFAS In Consumer Products

  4. Expand PFAS Regulation

  5. Encourage Private Well PFAS Testing and Remediation

  6. Support Firefighters And Local Fire Departments

  7. Address PFAS Contamination Accountability

  8. Enhance Public Awareness of PFAS

Representative Kate Hogan and Senator Julian Cyr were the co-leaders of this significant effort by the legislature.  They took a constructive approach, looking at the entire lifecycle of PFAS, held nine public hearings and accepted lots of written testimony from members of the public (see PFAS Interagency Task Force (malegislature.gov)).  The report introduction sums up the proposal as a “a comprehensive set of recommendations that build upon existing efforts to detect and remediate PFAS, prevent PFAS contamination at the source, broaden the scope of PFAS regulation, and support impacted communities.”  One of the recommendations is to regulate PFAS as a class. 

The Interagency Task Force had broad representation and was comprised of high-level staff from numerous State Agencies including the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, and the Attorney General’s Office.  Non-agency members included representatives from the Massachusetts Water Works Association, the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, Tighe & Bond, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

At the meeting on April 20th, the legislative co-chairs discussed the complex nature of the PFAS  issue and promised to continue working with the task force members to implement the report recommendations.  For more news about the report, see PFAS task force recommends phase-outs, banning, and regulation (boston.com)