Senator Hassan Hosts Conversation About Trump Administration’s Rollback of PFAS Protections in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH - U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan spoke yesterday with Seacoast residents, local water officials, and PFAS reduction advocates about their work to address toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination and ensure that Granite Staters have access to clean, safe drinking water.

During the conversation, participants discussed the need for greater accountability to ensure that PFAS contamination in New Hampshire is addressed quickly, especially as the Trump Administration continues todelay cleanup timelines at military bases across the country, including the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth. They also discussed the challenges posed by PFAS-contaminated sludge that has spread onto farms and golf courses and can irrevocably contaminate soil.

The conversation comes after the Trump Administration's decision to roll back certain PFAS protections, including its proposal to rescind drinking water standards for some PFAS chemicals and delay reporting requirements for manufacturers and importers of these chemicals.

"The Trump Administration's actions to roll back and weaken PFAS protections, as well as push back long-overdue clean up timelines at sites like Pease, threaten the progress that New Hampshire has made to keep our drinking water safe," said Senator Hassan. "People on the Seacoast have already waited far too long to get these unsafe chemicals out of their communities, and continuing to delay cleanup is unacceptable. I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from residents, local water officials, and PFAS prevention advocates about how PFAS have hurt their communities and the work that they are doing to protect families from exposure to these toxic forever chemicals. I will continue to push the Administration for accountability and to ensure that communities have the resources that they need to clean up contamination as quickly as possible."

Senator Hassan meets with Seacoast residents, local water officials, and PFAS reduction advocates in Portsmouth

Senator Hassan leads several efforts to protect Granite Staters from forever chemicals. As a negotiator of the bipartisan infrastructure law, Senator Hassan helped secure a provision to better ensure that New Hampshire towns would be eligible for an advanced technology grant program that could be used to remove PFAS from drinking water. Last year, the Senator pushed the EPA to continue PFAS cleanup efforts at the Tinkham Garage Site in Londonderry, where contamination has left residents without access to safe drinking water. Additionally, Senator Hassan has introduced legislation to ban PFAS chemicals in food containers and helped introduce a bill to ban PFAS chemicals in cosmetics products, such as makeup, moisturizer, and perfume.

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