Gary Peters

WASHINGTON, DC – In a new “On the Job” video from U.S. Senator Gary Peters’ (MI) office, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network Tony Spaniola reflects on Peters’ continued efforts to address toxic per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in Michigan communities. In 2016, Spaniola learned that his home in Oscoda was impacted by PFAS contamination from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base. In response, Peters has repeatedly worked with Spaniola and the Oscoda community to mitigate these harmful “forever chemicals” and remediate contaminated sites across Michigan. The video with Spaniola is part of the On the Job for Michigan series, which highlights Peters’ leadership and advocacy on behalf of Michigan constituents and communities.

“Many of us, including me, can’t drink our water from our private wells,” said Spaniola. “What we’ve come to learn about PFAS chemicals is that they also are very harmful at exceptionally low levels… Senator Peters recognized early on that this issue is one that has tremendous spread and reach.”

“What we’ve been able to do is to suggest to the Air Force and to the Department of Defense a strategy, a policy strategy, for dealing with PFAS cleanups around the country… We would have never gotten to first base with it if Senator Peters hadn’t been so critically involved,” Spaniola continued. “And that’s why his efforts, his involvement, his partnership with our community have been so, so, so valuable.”

“We have to protect Michiganders’ drinking water and our state’s precious natural resources from these toxic chemicals. That’s why the work to clean up areas affected by PFAS contamination is so important,” said Senator Peters. “We’ve made meaningful progress by bringing together federal, state, and local partners, like Tony, but there’s more work ahead. I’ll never stop fighting to address PFAS contamination and protect the health and safety of all Michiganders.”

Despite ongoing setbacks from the Department of Defense (DOD), Peters has long fought alongside Spaniola and other community leaders in Michigan to mitigate harmful PFAS contamination. Most recently, Peters demanded answers from the Trump Administration for its continued delays in cleaning up PFAS contamination at military installations in Michigan and across the country. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Peters called on DOD to reverse its unacceptable postponement of PFAS remediation at military bases and requested detailed explanations for the delays in order to give servicemembers, their families, and the surrounding communities the transparency they deserve. Last year, Peters secured provisions in the national defense bill requiring DOD to develop a PFAS remediation acceleration strategy, create a PFAS transparency dashboard, and provide alternative drinking water – such as bottled water – to households with private drinking water wells that have been contaminated by PFAS as a result of DOD activities.

In September 2018, Peters helped convene the first-ever hearing on PFAS contamination in the Senate, which assessed the federal government’s response to PFAS contamination and remediation efforts. He then convened a field summit in Grand Rapids in November 2018 to shine a light on how local, state, and federal governments are coordinating responses to address PFAS contamination. Peters also convened a hearing in 2021 as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to examine how servicemembers, their families, and communities across the country have been harmed by exposure to toxic PFAS substances connected to military sites. In 2022, Peters convened a field hearing in East Lansing with numerous administration officials to examine federal efforts and coordination with state and local governments to clean up and prevent contamination from PFAS, and to examine the impact exposure to these toxic chemicals has had on servicemembers, first responders, families, and other Michiganders.

Peters has also introduced and advanced bipartisan legislation to reduce the spread of PFAS chemicals at commercial airports. Peters’ Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act, which was signed into law in 2022, is working to deploy more existing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) funding for commercial airports to purchase devices to test their firefighting equipment without discharging toxic PFAS chemicals. In 2022, Peters’ bill to help protect firefighters and emergency responders from PFAS exposure in the line of duty was also signed into law. Peters also secured $10 billion in federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for PFAS remediation efforts in Michigan and across the country.