Lobbyists Are Playing Both Sides of the PFAS Debate
PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” are linked to a range of health risks. In California, some lobbyists fighting a bill that would ban PFAS in consumer products are also lobbying for another bill that would help remove the chemicals from the water supply.
Kathy Borland looks over the well on her property, where her water has been contaminated with high levels of PFAS chemicals, on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, in San Luis Obispo, California. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Major lobbying firms are raking in millions while playing both sides of the lobbying debate on California’s PFAS regulation. Also known as “forever chemicals,” these extremely persistent human-made chemicals appear in clothing, cleaning products, cookware, and increasingly in human bodies and are linked to a wide range of health risks.
A new investigation has found that some of the same lobbyists fighting a bill that would ban PFAS in select consumer products are also lobbying for another bill that would help remove the chemicals from the water supply through a PFAS Mitigation Fund.
“When you put the two together — both bills — [lobbyists are] getting paid to perpetuate the mess of PFAS and to clean it up,” said James Browning, founder and executive director of F Minus, a nonprofit that tracks fossil fuel lobbyists.
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