Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bill that would ban PFAS chemicals for most firefighting purposes in Alaska, which passed the Legislature by a near-unanimous vote this session after Democratic Juneau state Sen. Jesse Kiehl reached a deal to include its provisions in a bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Stanley Wright of Anchorage.<\/p>\n
The veto also means the rejection of Wright’s attempt to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a greenhouse gas chemical commonly used in air conditioning and refrigeration, in newly constructed buildings.<\/p>\n
Dunleavy, a Republican, stated in a veto letter Saturday he welcomed the reintroduction of Wright’s bill without the provisions authored by Kiehl. But the governor said he vetoed the bill because it did not provide alternatives for a firefighting substance used by many remote villages known as aqueous film forming foam (AFFF)<\/a> that contains PFAS chemicals.<\/p>\n “If AFFF is removed from a community, residents will have no capabilities to fight a large-scale fire,” Dunleavy wrote. “When balancing the environment and life and safety of Alaska, this bill falls short by removing a lifesaving tool from the toolbox.”<\/p>\n Kiehl, in an interview Tuesday, disputed the claims — saying original provisions of the legislation were altered to address state agency concerns — and said the governor twice rejected requests to discuss any remaining issues between Aug. 18 and when the bill was vetoed.<\/p>\n The PFAS provisions were originally in a different bill sponsored by Kiehl<\/a> that banned the substances except when used for oil- and gas-related fires until a substitute chemical able to handle large such incidents is available. The legislation also allowed the state to accept up to 40 gallons of a firefighting substance containing PFAS chemicals from about 130 small, remote communities that use state-provided “code red carts” to store AFFF chemicals.<\/p>\n The senator said that, according to administration data, more than 85% of the rural firefighting systems using such carts are currently non-functional. He said villages with functional systems had the option to keep them — although a voluntary recall effort would be made — and could use them if necessary for purposes exempted in the legislation such as oil- and gas-related fires.<\/p>\n “Passing this bill does literally nothing to reduce public safety,” he said.<\/p>\n Kiehl also argued the cost of cleaning up a PFAS spill in a village would far exceed the cost of recalling its firefighting cart and replacing it with a system using non-toxic substances. <\/p>\n PFAS chemicals — known by their full name as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or commonly as “forever chemicals,” are considered known to cause cancer, maternal health problems and other ailments. They exist in hundreds of locations statewide<\/a>, including in Juneau near the airport and Hagevig fire training center.<\/p>\n