Press Releases

Today, Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02) became a founding member of the bipartisan PFAs Task Force headed by Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The PFAS Task Force was established to address the urgent threat of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to help better protect communities from the harmful effects of the chemicals. Congressman Huizenga has been a vocal leader on addressing PFAs in Michigan and around the nation, warning that what we have seen here West Michigan may unfortunately only be the tip of the iceberg. Congressman Huizenga made the following remarks at the official announcement of the PFAS Task Force today at the U.S. Capitol.


Congressman Bill Huizenga:

We have seen several communities in West Michigan, along the Grand River, including Robinson Elementary School in Ottawa County, that have tested positive for PFAs at levels that are unsafe. We are concerned that this is just the tip of the iceberg. At the end of the day, residents deserve to know the truth and the full picture about the health risks as well as the sources associated with PFOA and PFOS.

I have supported groundbreaking research at both the local and national level. One of those is a researcher at Michigan State University, Cory Rusinek, who has been successfully developing a viable solution to treat gallons of PFAS-contaminated water in a lab. Now we need to expand this type of research and develop these systems for much larger scale decontamination.

These are the types of steps that need to be taken. We do know that more research needs to be done. There hasn’t been enough research done on whether 70 parts per trillion is the right number or as we suspect, it needs to be much lower. I look forward to working on this with my colleagues.

This task force and the Great Lakes Task Force can drive the conversation with the goal of improving water quality for all Americans.