Renewal follows new federal guidance and funds targeting PFAS pollution
Rhode Island elected officials and University leaders joined
scientists today at the Providence headquarters of Rhode Island’s Department of
Environmental Management to announce the $8.1 million, 5-year grant renewal by
the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the
National Institutes of Health.
“Renewal of critical funding for STEEP has implications reaching far beyond URI. Now ubiquitous in everyday items we use and wear, PFAS have emerged as high-priority contaminants with devastating impacts to humans and the environment,” said URI President Marc Parlange. “Fortunately, URI, with our STEEP partners, is uncovering just how detrimental these forever chemicals are, providing the research, data, and tools to better understand and mitigate the dangers to Rhode Island residents and beyond. Renewed funding of this essential program ensures that we can continue to inform policies that remove PFAS from our lives while analyzing the potential harm of new chemicals before they are released into the environment.”
The president also said that approval of the $100 million
bond question on the Nov. 8 ballot will lead to enhanced and expanded facilities
at URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus, where the STEEP program is based. It is
essential to the continued success of the STEEP initiative and other research
at the campus that focus on the health and well-being of Rhode Islanders and
the environment.
“So I just want to remind everyone here to vote yes on
question 1,” Parlange said.
“This is good news on two fronts,” says Rainer Lohmann,
chief researcher on the STEEP project and a URI Graduate School of Oceanography
chemical oceanographer. “Program renewal means STEEP can continue to produce
the solid science needed to respond to PFAS problems, while the latest round of
federal actions and support for PFAS treatment helps affected communities
receive clean drinking water.”
The recently launched federal Environmental Protection
Agency PFAS program reflects the latest science, including STEEP findings, that
there is no safe level for many of the chemicals and their intake ought to be
reduced as much as possible. The program provides states with guidance for protecting
key resources, like drinking water, and with money – $1 billion is available
nationally – for planning or implementing either mitigation or prevention
actions.
STEEP is also informing Rhode Island decision-making, with
the state recently banning PFAS from food contact materials – coated cardboard
pizza boxes, for instance – and mandating that its Department of Health
institute PFAS drinking water limits. PFAS chemicals are manmade and, while
colorless and odorless, are tied to cancer, hormone disruption, and other
tissue abnormalities, in humans and animals. They can be found in
water-repellent outerwear and shoes, stain-guarded carpets and couches, many
kinds of nonstick cookware, microelectronics, and items like coated microwave
popcorn bags.
Lohmann’s team includes researchers who bring PFAS expertise
in varied areas. “We need to be able to protect people from these insidious
chemicals, especially children – and even before they are born,” says STEEP
co-lead and researcher Philippe Grandjean, of the URI College of Pharmacy, who
studies PFAS in children of the Faroe Islands. “Our project renewal will ensure
that we can focus on vulnerable populations, especially children, to ensure
that health risks from PFAS exposure are minimized.”
Likewise, “longer term efforts like STEEP enable scientific
advances that provide essential information for regulatory decisions and risk
management, “says STEEP researcher Elsie Sunderland, of Harvard University, who
studies PFAS transport and transformation on Cape Cod, Massachusetts and
elsewhere.
The renewal of the STEEP project means that the work taking
place to study PFAS impacts in the Faroe Islands and on Cape Cod can continue,
as will research and outreach projects that engage scientists, government
decision-makers, the private sector, and communities in conversation and action
about addressing PFAS collaboratively.
“Not only will this allow us to continue our work on Cape
Cod to protect water quality, but also it will help us better understand
possible exposures to PFAS from fish and other local sources and to apply what
we’ve learned over the past five years to other communities that have been
impacted by PFAS,” says STEEP researcher Laurel Schaider, a senior scientist at
Silent Spring Institute.
Examples of STEEP’s recent outreach activities: Technical
assistance to Rhode Island state officials as they apply federal guidance to
develop PFAS monitoring plans for drinking water, and coordination of regional
dialogue with other states about moving PFAS abatement actions within the
manufacturing sector.
“Like climate change, this is a problem that we, as a global
community, are going to be facing for generations to come,” said URI Coastal
Institute Director Elin Torell. “Science and community engagement are critical
to addressing PFAS, and our STEEP program, through its recertification, is
providing both.”
The URI STEEP Superfund Research Program is a partnership of
the URI Coastal Institute, Harvard University, and Silent Spring Institute, an
independent scientific research organization that has been studying PFAS in
drinking water on Cape Cod for more than a decade. Beyond the URI Graduate
School of Oceanography and the Coastal Institute, additional URI groups
involved in the project are the College of Pharmacy, College of the Environment
and Life Sciences, its Department of Marine Affairs; and the College of Arts
and Sciences, and its Harrington School of Communication and Media.
Research reported in this press release was supported by the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences under Award Number
P42ES027706. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does
not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute Of
Environmental Health Sciences.
To learn more about STEEP and its renewal, visit the website
at https://web.uri.edu/steep/.
You can also contact Wendy Lucht, URI SRP STEEP Coordinator, wlucht@uri.edu, (401) 874-6212
Compilation of leadership perspectives on the
2022 STEEP renewal
The renewal of the STEEP initiative is broadly supported by
an array of local leaders who share their perspectives on the effort to address
PFAS pollution:
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees this federal funding stated: “PFAS forever chemicals have spread globally through the ocean and atmosphere and pose a serious health threat. URI is a leader in marine research and the STEEP program’s work enhances scientific understanding of the bioaccumulation of PFAS in humans, animals, and the environment. I worked to support the original grant and this renewal of federal funding means URI can continue critical research that will help PFAS mitigation and pollution prevention.”
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: “Our work in environmental
protection has shown how PFAS pose a serious public health threat to
communities in Rhode Island and across the country. Researchers at the
University of Rhode Island have led the way in understanding and mitigating the
dangers of PFAS for a long time, and I am very glad the STEEP program has been
renewed so they can continue this important work to protect Rhode Islanders.”
U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin: “The work that we do in Congress to
limit PFAS chemicals and support affected communities depends on the data and
research being done by programs like STEEP. If we are going to create laws to
protect our children from these toxic chemicals, we must know where they’re
most prevalent and what regulations will be most effective to eliminate them.
The University of Rhode Island has been integral to that process, and I’m
thrilled that this program will remain funded for years to come.”
U.S. Rep. David Cicilline: “It’s great news that URI’s STEEP
program is receiving renewed federal funding. This investment will allow the
program to continue its critical work examining the impacts of PFAS and
identifying ways to address this pollutant. Years of mounting research, like
that from STEEP, have helped us learn about the serious health risks of PFAS,
and ongoing study will help direct government interventions to minimize
exposure. Congrats to URI and all of the researchers involved.”
Terrence Gray, director of the Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management: “The researchers in the STEEP program have done
excellent work to increase awareness of the environmental and public health
issues related to PFAS here in Rhode Island. Dr. Lohmann and all the
other people on the STEEP team have also done excellent work on innovative
devices and methods to sample for these contaminants in the environment. With
the passage of comprehensive PFAS legislation by the Rhode Island General
Assembly in June, we expect a heightened attention to, and regulation of, these
‘forever chemicals’ and look forward to continuing to work closely with the
STEEP team at URI funded by this grant renewal.”