Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is pushing back hard after the Trump administration rolled back Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as “forever chemicals,” reverting to pre-2024 thresholds that permit higher concentrations in public water supplies.

Slotkin Demands Action

Slotkin’s pushback came after the Trump administration last week announced it would drop some limits on the first-ever national drinking water standards finalized by the Biden EPA in April 2024, which had set Maximum Contaminant Level Goals for PFOA and PFOS at zero, citing no safe level of exposure. The Trump EPA argued the Biden rules failed to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

In a May 19 statement, Slotkin warned, “PFAS, or forever chemicals, poison our water, our soil, and our bodies and they don’t go away.”

In her weekly intel briefing last Friday, Slotkin added, “This is a setback, but we can’t stop fighting for the federal government to restore a scientific standard for drinking water.”

A 2023 U.S. Geological Survey study found PFAS present in nearly half of U.S. tap water samples nationwide. Research links prolonged PFAS exposure to kidney cancer, thyroid disease, dyslipidemia and impaired fetal development, with the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifying PFOA as carcinogenic.

Oscoda Residents Wait Another Five Years

Speaking during a May 21 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Slotkin raised the plight of residents in Oscoda living near the former Air Force base.

Some have registered among the world's highest PFAS blood levels and have waited more than 20 years for cleanup efforts largely linked to firefighting foam used at military bases. The Air Force earlier announced another five-year delay.

Pressing Air Force Secretary Troy Meink directly, Slotkin warned that the EPA rollback, compounding the Air Force’s five-year delay, was undoing years of progress. “Two steps forward, we are now taking 10 steps back,” she said.