Advocacy News – May 9, 2024
What happened: Last week, bills were introduced that would attempt to restrict and ultimately ban the ‘intentional addition’ of PFAS in a wide array of products. The bills, introduced by State Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou and Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash, will be introduced this week to commemorate Earth Day.
Of most concern to the business community, there remain significant unanswered questions in the bills. It remains unclear as to what ‘intentionally added’ means, which products and chemicals apply and how the bill would be implemented or enforced.
What we’re saying: The MI Chamber supports the responsible production, use and management of fluorinated substances and a comprehensive approach to managing PFAS that will ensure protection of human health and the environment — taking into consideration that this is a broad class of chemistry with very different physical and chemical properties. It is not scientifically accurate or appropriate to group all PFAS together or treat them all the same. A broad range of scientific organizations and regulatory bodies, including US EPA, recognize this and have outlined approaches to define, subcategorize, assess, and regulate this important chemistry.
The bottom line: These risky bills take a ‘cookie cutter’ approach to regulating PFAS in consumer products by potentially creating broad and sweeping restrictions or even bans across a number of industry sectors.
The impact: PFAS chemistries are vital to U.S. and Michigan priorities relative to climate, sustainability, defense, and domestic supply chain resiliency. This includes critical uses that rely on PFAS technology like semiconductors; advanced material defense applications; high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage; alternative energy sources, like solar, wind and green hydrogen; and 5G and smart device technologies, just to name a few. It is critical that state law appropriately balance public health and environmental protection with measured approaches that reflect real science and data-backed rationales.
What’s next: The MI Chamber will continue to voice concern over the bills, and work to effectively educate lawmakers on their potential negative consequences.
For more information, contact Mike Alaimo at malaimo@michamber.com.