Rep. Elissa Slotkin's Statement on Secretary of Defense Esper's Announcement of a DoD PFAS Task Force

Statement

Today, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) released the following statement in response to news that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had ordered the creation of a task force on the military's role in PFAS contamination.

Slotkin, a former Pentagon official and member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), has made mitigating PFAS contamination a priority, particularly as it relates to the Defense Department's role in that contamination. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Slotkin helped secure provisions in the base text of the NDAA that hold the Department of Defense accountable for PFAS contamination cleanup originating from AFFF, or PFAS-laden firefighting foam found in and around active and former military bases. Michigan has the highest-number of PFAS-contaminated sites in the country.

"As a Michigander, as a former Pentagon official and now a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I know what an important role the Defense Department has to play in PFAS contamination and clean-up in our state, and after strong advocacy from our Committee and from the Michigan delegation, I welcome Secretary Esper's move, on the first day of his tenure, to stand up a task force on PFAS contamination," Slotkin said.

"As I have long said, I believe that environmental security is homeland security -- because it's about the safety and security of our kids, and our way of life in Michigan," Slotkin continued. "In the Great Lakes State, when we can't hand our kids a glass of water with confidence that it is safe to drink, or we can't fish in the rivers our families have fished for generations, that is a threat to our safety and our way of life. That is why it is critical the Department take steps to respond to this existential threat in our state, and I look forward to working with them to stem the flow of and clean up PFAS contamination in our state."

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