The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is holding three public hearings this month on its plans to set drinking water standards for chemicals known as PFAS.
The public hearings are a part of the state’s plan to establish drinking water standards, sampling requirements, public notification requirements, and laboratory certification criteria.
Here are the limits for some PFAS compounds that were recommended to the state's Environmental Rules Review Committee:
PFNA (6-ppt); PFOA (8-ppt); PFOS (16-ppt); PFHxS (51-ppt); GenX (370-ppt); PFBS (420-ppt); and PFHxA (400,000-ppt).
Dave Fiedler, the Regulatory Affairs Officer with the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, says the events will be in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Roscommon.
“We decided that those were the three areas that would serve the public the best and get the most turnout for those meetings,” Fiedler says.
The Grand Rapids event will be on Wednesday at 5pm at Grand Valley State University’s L.V. Eberhard Center in Room EC 215.
The other public hearings will be held on January 14 from 5 pm to 8 pm at Washtenaw Community College, Morris Lawrence Building, Towsley Auditorium, 4800 East Huron River Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and on January 16 from 5 pm to 8 pm, at the Ralph A. Macmullan Conference Center, Au Sable Classroom, 104 Conservation Drive, Roscommon, Michigan.
Fiedler says residents can provide both verbal and written comments during the hearings.
“And then, based upon those comments, [EGLE] will determine if changes will be made to the proposed rules,” he says.
You can find more information on the rulemaking process at the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team website.
