State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, explains the details of his bill banning PFAS chemicals for most firefighting during the Senate floor session on Monday. The bill passed unanimously and now goes to the House for consideration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

State Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, explains the details of his bill banning PFAS chemicals for most firefighting during the Senate floor session on Monday. The bill passed unanimously and now goes to the House for consideration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Kiehl’s ‘no new spills’ PFAS bill passes Senate

Unanimous vote comes after years of effort by Juneau lawmaker to limit harm of “forever chemicals”

A significant victory in a Juneau lawmaker’s multi-year effort to reduce harm caused by PFAS chemicals occurred Monday as the state Senate unanimously passed a bill banning the substance for most firefighting purposes.

Senate Bill 67 by state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat, is what he calls a “no new spills” bill that lacks cleanup provisions of proposals from previous years that failed to pass the Legislature. In an interview after the floor session, he said he believes the cleanup issues will be addressed by the first-ever nationwide standards for what are commonly called “forever chemicals” that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to enact this year.

“I think the EPA is exactly on the right track with clean water regulations and I expect the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation will be close on their heels,” he said. “The commissioner has said that publicly.”

Kiehl’s bill bans PFAS chemicals (an abbreviation for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) for firefighting, except when used for large oil and gas industry fires until a substitute chemical able to handle such large incidents is available. It also allows the state to accept up to 40 gallons of a firefighting substance that contains PFAS chemicals from about 130 small, remote communities that use “load carts” to store firefighting chemicals.

The senator, in an overview of the bill during the floor session, noted PFAS chemicals are effective at firefighting because the compounds are highly resistant to being broken down, but that comes with a corresponding durability in areas they’re used. He said said most of the contamination at the state’s hundreds of existing sites is from federally mandated training at locations such as airports, rather than fighting actual fires, but regardless of purpose, the chemicals pose a huge range of health risks ranging from birth defects to cancer.

“These things are bad for people and they’re bad for people in incredibly small concentrations,” he said.

Safer alternative substances are now deemed acceptable for most uses, including training, in the U.S. and multiple European countries, Kiehl said.

SB67 now goes to the House, where its prospects with less than 10 days left before this year’s adjournment are uncertain, especially with large differences remaining between the two chambers on major issues such as next year’s budget. A companion House bill did receive a hearing on Friday.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com.

More in News

The Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore docks in Juneau in October, 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
Ships in Port for the Week of May 28

Here’s what to expect this week.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Three people found dead on boat anchored off Sandy Beach

Drug use a possible factor in deaths of one man and two women during three-day span

The Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding area is seen under an overcast sky on May 12. A federal order published Friday bans mineral extraction activities such as mining in an expanded area of land surrounding the glacier for the next 20 years. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)
Feds expand ban on mineral extraction near Mendenhall Glacier

20-year prohibition on mining, oil drilling applies to newly exposed land as ice continues retreat

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Thursday, June 1, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Bulk food in Food Bank of Alaska’s Anchorage warehouse on April 21. (Photo by Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
State roughly halves the number of Alaskans waiting on food aid, but more than 8,000 remain

By Claire Stremple, Alaska Beacon Mary Wood has been waiting for food… Continue reading

A white butterfly rests upon a fern Saturday at Prince of Wales Island. (Courtesy Photo / Marti Crutcher)
Wild Shots

Reader-submitted photos of Mother Nature in Southeast Alaska.

Photos by Lee House / Sitka Conservation Society
Aliyah Merculief focuses on her run while snowboarding at Snow Camp.
Resilient Peoples & Place: Bringing up a new generation of Indigenous snow shredders

“Yak’éi i yaada xwalgeiní” (“it is good to see your face”) reads… Continue reading

A polar bear feeds near a pile of whale bones north of Utqiaġvik. (Courtesy Photo /Ned Rozell)
Alaska Science Forum: Polar bears of the past survived warmth

In a recent paper, scientists wrote that a small population of polar… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Wednesday, May 31, 2023

This report contains information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Most Read