It seems increasingly less likely that a fiscal year 2020 defense policy bill – still stalled in conference negotiations – will include language addressing toxic PFAS chemicals.
House and Senate negotiators are looking at potentially controversial items to strip from the National Defense Authorization Act to ease its passage.
“We’re not going to grab something from some other committee’s jurisdiction and jam it into our bill,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told CQ. “I will not hold up the defense bill over that PFAS provision, as much as I feel like it should be addressed.”
Provisions addressing PFAS cleanup were not on a list of NDAA measures Senate Armed Services Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) shared with reporters last week when he announced plans for a “skinny” NDAA. He is expected to release that draft legislation this week.
Assistant Defense Secretary for Sustainment Robert McMahon told reporters last month that DOD prefers PFAS contamination issues be handled by EPA, not the Pentagon, CQ reported.
Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Megan Roses