House OKs Senate bill vs harmful effects of contamination from ‘forever chemicals’

The House of the Representatives has passed a Senate bill that seeks to protect the people of the CNMI against the harmful effects of perfluoralkyl and polyflouroalkyl, or PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” that were used for industrial applications and consumer products but have been left over from tanks and wells being removed from service areas on Saipan.

All 19 representatives present at the session voted for the passage of Senate Bill 22-40 in the form of House Draft 1, that will amend the Commonwealth Code to add provisions identifying and implementing enforceable limits for PFAS contaminants.

The bill now goes back to the Senate. Senate president Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) and Sen. Vinnie Sablan (Ind-Saipan) are the authors of the legislation.

Before voting to pass the bill, Rep. Christina E. Sablan (D-Saipan) asked her colleagues’ support so that this legislation may be expeditiously enacted.

She stated that after the Senate passed the legislation it was referred to the House Health and Welfare Committee that she chairs.

Sablan said the bill’s primary purpose is to protect the people of the Commonwealth against PFAS contamination.

She said PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” are known to contaminate the groundwater resources of the Commonwealth. In fact, the lawmaker pointed out, the highest volumes of PFAS contamination in the whole country were found in wells here on Saipan.

Sablan said PFAS contamination has resulted in multiple wells being removed from service.

She said there have been health advisories as well as significant costs for public utilities and the people of the Commonwealth in mitigation measures.

Sablan said her committee scheduled two public meetings and invited the agencies that participated in the drafting of this bill to submit comments and testified before the committee.

The agencies include the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and the Office of the Attorney General.

She said their written comments are attached to the committee report and the oral testimonies of their witnesses are part of the committee report record.

The lawmaker said they also received some very thoughtful comments from public health advocates and graduate students with the University of California at Berkeley School of Public Health, and the Commonwealth 670.

Sablan said they asked the agencies to review and respond to these comments which they did, and that the correspondence is also provided in the committee report.

She noted that the amendments that were incorporated into this bill in House Draft one reflect amendments on which there was agreement by all the parties.

Sablan said this includes expanding the findings to take legislative notice of the environmental justice concerns that are raised by PFAS contamination in the Commonwealth, to make some technical corrections, and to include a definition in the operative language of the bill.

The lawmaker said they understand from the Attorney General that time is of the essence for the passage of this bill because of pending litigation in which the CNMI is a party, along with other states and territories against the manufacturers, distributors and marketers of that chemicals.

Sablan said the CNMI needs this legislation to authorize the agencies, BECQ, in particular to set and enforce them as far as PFAS and create a cause of action for PFAS violations that the Commonwealth may then use to amend its complaint to include these violations.

She said of the CNMI prevails in this litigation, any damages obtained will be extremely helpful in funding ongoing and costly mitigation measures that CUC is undertaking now to protect public health.

“And also, hopefully may be used for research and monitoring of the impacts of the PFAS contamination,” Sablan said.

Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan) also urged lawmakers to support the bill.

Demapan said he believes 12 to 14 water wells in the Obyan area are contaminated with DFAS and that’s the reason why there is no provision of 24-hour water in Obyan for the residents living there and the ranchers that are back there.

He said currently the water is being supplied to Obyan from San Vicente and that is only for a couple of hours a day and at a very low pressure.

Demapan said it should not be an excuse when 14 wells are sitting behind the backyards of residents there.

“So I’m hoping that with the passage of this legislation and hopefully settlement of the litigation, that we can finally address the cleaning of contamination in Obyan and finally restore the provision of 24 hour water to that area… by the way in beautiful precinct 1,” the lawmaker said.

Senators Hofschneider and Sablan stated in the bill that between 2015 and 2016, the Commonwealth’s wells in Saipan were tested for PFAS during the USEPA’s Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule.

The senators said the testing conducted by CUC showed PFAS contamination in multiple tanks and wells from the Isley, Koblerville, and Obyan aquifers.