Lack of Accountability for PFAS Pollution Illustrates Corporate Polluter Influence Over Our Democracy
ANN ARBOR – The 2024 National PFAS Conference is happening this week in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Environmental advocates, like Clean Water Action, known for leading the PFAS charge nationwide, will gather to strategize on the best path forward to eliminate these toxic forever chemicals.
“Clean Water Action has worked with communities across the country and at the federal level to ensure that government is responsive and protective of the health of residents who are facing the consequences of PFAS contamination,” said Clean Water Action President and CEO, Jeff Carter. “But in a larger sense, we must do more to reign in the power of corporate polluters who trade the health of our water and our residents for more obscene profit margins.”
In Minnesota last year, Clean Water Action helped push the nation’s strongest PFAS legislation, Amara's Law, across the finish line. Amara’s Law is named after Amara Strande who grew up in a PFAS plume on the east side of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. The plume, now grown to 260 square miles, is the suspect in the rare cancer that took Amara’s life. Amara spent her last days testifying in legislative committees, fighting for the bill’s passage, and creating public awareness of the dangers PFAS poses when they enter the human body.
“Amara’s law in Minnesota was a huge step forward, however, there shouldn’t be another case like Amara Strande’s anywhere and that means that here in Michigan and across the country, we must do more to hold corporate polluters accountable. That is why here in Michigan Clean Water Action is working to pass polluter pay legislation that is supported by more than 90% of the public,” continued Carter. “The fact that such critical and popular legislation has been introduced in every session for the last decade without movement is a testament to the obscene power that corporate polluters have over our political process. That is why we are also proud to be involved in the Taking Back Our Power coalition in Michigan, working to stop monopoly utilities and government contractors from spending money to influence our elections. The health of our water and people must be valued more than corporate greed.”
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Clean Water Action is a national 501(c)(4) environmental organization with nearly one million members nationwide. Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. Learn more at cleanwater.org.