“Here we are at the heart of freshwater in the world and we’re looking at a drinking water crisis.”
This was the quote from Lisa Wozniak, as she joined WKHM to talk further about PFAS exposure, and the recent report that came to light six years after it’s initial submission to DEQ leadership. Wozniak, the Executive Director of the League of Conservation Voters said that the report was compiled by a 30-year veteran of the DEQ, and subsequently ignored by leadership within the department. “These folks, these people, these citizens of the state of Michigan, families and children, have gone exposed to this for the past five plus years without anything being addressed.” Wozniak said.
Wozniak has little praise for the State’s reaction to the issue. “The state has done a couple of things to address this.” she said. The state has created a task force, known as MPART, to look at PFAS exposure, as well as the DEQ moving forward on a few of the report’s recommendations. She feels like this is too little, too late, as now 15 different communities have been exposed to elevated levels of PFAS. “We’re going to see more and more and more incidents of PFAS contamination.” she said.
State Senator Mike Shirkey questioned whether PFAS actually causes the harm that many claim, to which Wozniak suggests that the lawmakers do a little reading on the topic. “There’s an excellent Harvard study that’s been done on this, there are many, many studies out there and I would strongly encourage elected officials to get their hands on these.” she said. She also encourages the public to help open eyes, especially in an election year,”When people start to realize that their legislators are not actually doing what’s best for their communities and they start knocking on their doors and picking up their phones and letting them know that they’re watching, they care, they expect their leadership to be doing something; that’s when the lawmakers will start moving.”
