The Northeast-Midwest Institute this week released a scorecard and report on state legislature and environmental agency PFAS response. This scorecard and report detail the actions of each state’s legislature and environmental agency in the northeast-midwest region, and scores them on their response to PFAS contamination in their state. The score of each state provides a good indication of which states are doing exemplary work at combatting PFAS contamination, and which states need to take more action.
This new PFAS scorecard and report ranks the northeast region as strongest in terms of PFAS policy-making, followed next by the mid-Atlantic region, with the midwest region ranking lowest. Among the states, Vermont ranks as the strongest in PFAS policy-making, both in the northeast region and among all of the states in the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and midwest. New York ranks the strongest among the states in the mid-Atlantic region. Ranking lowest among the states in all three regions is the state of Ohio.
States were graded on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the highest score. There were 10 separate indicators that states were graded on, including spending, legislation that has been passed or introduced, future legislation, action plans, drinking water limits, and enforcement against PFAS manufacturers. The report also gives recommendations to each state for what they should be doing next, as well as what the region as a whole should take action on next.
In addition to the scorecard, the report also touches on other important developments in PFAS policy. There is a section that discusses the details of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the funding that will go towards PFAS contamination. There also is a section that reviews the nationwide lawsuits against manufacturers like 3M and DuPont that have recently been settled.
Both the scorecard and the report were researched and written by Northeast-Midwest Institute Intern Aiden Meyer, a student at Nazareth University.
Read the report here