Charleston Leader

Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee emphasized the need for polluters to bear the responsibility for cleaning up per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during a hearing titled “Examining PFAS as Hazardous Substances.”

Capito highlighted the importance of passive receiver protections, stating, “I think there was agreement that…‘passive receivers’ are not what we're aiming at here. We're aiming at the polluter pays, the polluters should pay [for] the cleanup.”

She went further to push for legislation to enforce this principle, saying, “If we all agree on that, why wouldn't we just agree on putting it in the statute and making it a bright line and making it very clear?”

The hearing served as a platform for stakeholders to delve into the intricacies of the issue, with Capito commending the efforts to understand the issue thoroughly through previous roundtable discussions.

The call for polluters to take financial responsibility for the cleanup of PFAS aligns with the broader consensus that has been forming around the issue of hazardous substances.