PFAS Episodes

The U.S. drinking water MCLs for PFAS remain in effect, but court challenges, proposed deadline extensions, and regulatory uncertainty have left public water systems in a difficult position. Taryn McKnight, VP and PFAS Practice Leader for Eurofins Environment Testing, breaks down the current state of PFAS regulation in the United States, including the legal battles over EPA's drinking water standards, the CERCLA hazardous substance designation, and why the proposed rollback of certain PFAS compo...

Battelle's Chlorinated Conference draws 1,500 environmental professionals from 23 countries, and its division manager explains why PFAS treatment is pushing the industry to its limits. Joe Tarsavage, Division Manager of Environmental Solutions at Battelle, discusses the 30-year history of the Chlorinated Conference, how PFAS contamination has reset treatment standards from two nines to five or six nines of removal, and why that gap is driving rapid innovation across the remediation sector. He al...

ToxiMapp aggregates over 60 geospatial environmental datasets to show users exactly which toxicants are present in the air, water, and soil near any U.S. address, and the platform's founders say most people have no idea what surrounds them. Deb Hordon, Ph.D., founder and CEO of ToxiMapp, built the platform after moving her infant daughter into two separate communities with cancer clusters. Neither location looked dangerous. One was a picturesque seacoast area between Maine and New Hampshire with...

Microplastics appear on a federal contaminant watchlist for the first time, and the regulatory path forward remains far from certain. Megan Quinn, senior reporter at Waste Dive, breaks down what the EPA's proposed new Contaminant Candidate List 6 actually means for water utilities, landfill operators, and chemical manufacturers, and why the lack of standardized test methods could slow any future regulation significantly. Quinn explains how the CCL process works, who sits on the newly reshu...

Alan McKim, founder of Clean Harbors, joins the Environmental Transformation Podcast to discuss how he grew the company from a four-person startup in 1980 into one of North America's largest environmental and industrial services providers. McKim reflects on early emergency response work, major acquisitions including Safety Kleen, going public during the 1987 crash, and building a nationwide network of 20,000 employees, 10,000 vehicles, 700 service centers, and 100 permitted waste facilities. He ...

Host Sean Grady interviews attorney Robert Bilott live from the AHMP EHS Hazmat Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. Bilott, the lawyer whose work inspired the film Dark Waters, shares his decades-long fight against DuPont over PFAS contamination, the failures of early chemical disclosure, and the challenges of pushing the EPA to regulate forever chemicals. He discusses his book Exposure, the ongoing litigation nationwide, the impact on water utilities and ratepayers, and how consumer demand is forci...

In this episode of the Environmental Transformation Podcast, host Sean Grady talks with Alan Roberson, Executive Director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA). Roberson shares insights from over 34 years in water policy, including how ASDWA supports state drinking water agencies, challenges of PFAS regulation, and the impact of federal funding shortfalls on public health protection. The discussion covers drinking water regulations, the role of state labs, infrastruct...

Veteran environmental attorney Phil Comella joins host Sean Grady on the Environmental Transformation Podcast to break down the EPA’s proposed rollback of PFAS drinking water regulations. With over 40 years of experience, Comella offers expert legal insight on how the delayed compliance deadlines, potential MCL reductions, and CERCLA implications could affect municipalities, water utilities, waste management companies, and communities already exposed to PFAS. The conversation covers legal risks,...

Emily Donovan of Clean Cape Fear returns to the Environmental Transformation Podcast to discuss the EPA’s rollback of PFAS drinking water rules and how it’s impacting contaminated communities like hers in North Carolina. Host Sean Grady explores the legal, regulatory, and public health stakes behind the EPA’s May 14 announcement, with Donovan providing on-the-ground insight into the movement to hold polluters accountable, protect public drinking water, and stop PFAS exposure. 📍 Chapters: 0:00...

Join host Sean Grady as he interviews JP Verheul, Senior Chemist, and Mike Allen, VP of Trace Lab Services, from Enthalpy Analytical. Discover the critical work Enthalpy Analytical is doing in analyzing environmental samples for PFAS and other contaminants. Learn about the challenges and complexities in the testing and regulatory landscape, especially concerning drinking water, wastewater treatment, and industrial impacts. The episode also features detailed discussions on analytical methods, sta...

In this insightful episode of the Environmental Transformation Podcast, host Sean Grady engages in a compelling dialogue with Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, about their ongoing battle against PFAS pollution in the Cape Fear River watershed. Exploring the intricate journey from petitioning the United Nations to address human rights violations to the complex responses from major corporations like DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva, this episode sheds light on the critical environmental a...

Venture Investment Strategies with Ginger Rothrock of HG Ventures. In this compelling episode, our host dives into an enriching conversation with Dr. Ginger Rothrock, the Senior Investment Director at HG Ventures. They explore the exhilarating realm of venture capital, the essential role of startups in fostering innovation, and the intriguing blend of science, business, and technology. With insights from Ginger's wealth of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, and scientist, listeners are bro...

In this episode we discuss Water Filtration and Equipment Selection. Properly sizing a water filtration system can be challenging. Who do you call when you need help figuring out the size of pumps you need to drain a retention pond, or what type of filtration unit should you use to process or treat contaminated surface water or groundwater? Selecting effective treatment media is another difficult task many struggle with. I discuss these questions and more with ⁠⁠Andrew Morris⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Jesse Green...

A discussion with the U.S. EPA’s Office of Water Deputy Assistant Administrator Bruno Pigott. So much is happening in the water space at the EPA these days, from lead and copper water supply pipe replacement programs to newly proposed PFAS Drinking Water regulations, the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR), and much more. I had the opportunity to catch up with Bruno to discuss these topics and how the agency is responding to threats on human health and the environment in this episode....

PFAS Contamination Update with Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donavan. Learn about the recent TSCA court ruling where four community groups petitioned the US EPA to require Chemours to conduct epidemiology studies that included 54 PFAS chemicals for thousands of North Carolina residents. Her reaction to the EPA's Proposed PFAS Drinking Rule for 6 PFAS chemicals and if the EPA should establish a Class of PFAS Chemicals to account for Short Chain and Long Chain chemical variants. We also talk ab...

Today we have a panel discussion with today’s guests, Eliot Cooper of Cascade, Dr. Bradley Droy of TEA Environmental Solutions, and Craig Bruno of Landmark Environmental, around the evaluation process of selecting the proper In-Situ Chemistry products. We also discuss what goes into bringing new chemical amendments to market. Depending on the site characterization and hydrogeology characteristics, different chemistries may be selected based on the chemical of concern, such as CleanER iZVI, Sourc...

Mike Schade leads Toxic-Free Future’s Mind the Store program, which challenges retailers to shift the marketplace away from hazardous chemicals and develop comprehensive safer chemicals policies. Learn how Mind the Store’s influence convinced REI, one the nation’s largest outdoor apparel companies, to commit to stop selling PFAS containing consumer products in their stores 2024. We also talk about what goes into developing their Annual Retailer Report Card which grades America’s largest retailer...

Introducing PFAS Exposure™, the First Self-Collection Blood Sampling Kits with Taryn McKnight of Eurofins. Learn how you can accurately obtain PFAS blood sampling results from the comfort of your home or place of work using their new sampling kit called PFAS Exposure™. Eurofins Environment Testing has devised a way to self-collect a sample of PFAS in blood, traditionally requiring a blood draw. This departure represents a leap forward in Biomonitoring for Exposure to PFAS in blood. Their kit is ...

Learn how Pace Labs is an industry leader in PFAS analytical testing with Emerging Contaminants Program Manager Paul Jackson. We also discuss updates to the EPA’s recent Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) program and how public drinking water utilities will now have to test for 29 PFAS chemicals over the next three years, and what will be done with the data. Also, learn how many test methods are out there for analyzing various media, and much more. #...

Clean Cape Fear Co-Founder Emily Donovan talks about their efforts to address PFAS contamination in their community. We touch on recent efforts to get the US EPA to require epidemiology sampling of impacted residents and what they are doing to mitigate the exposure of over 300,000 North Carolina residents affected by PFAS contamination in municipal drinking water from the Chemours Fayetteville manufacturing facility. Learn how her work has helped elevate NC's PFAS contamination crisis to the nat...

Robert Bilott, the attorney behind the movie “Dark Waters” and the author of the book “Exposure”, talks about the case against DuPont, PFAS litigation, the state of PFAS regulations, what still needs to be done to protect citizens from chronic exposure Forever Chemicals, and his 20 plus fight bringing justice to those affected by PFAS contamination like the ones in Parkersburg, West Virginia in this exciting episode. Thanks to our Sponsors: Cascade Environmental, the Institute of Hazardous Mate...

Forever Chemicals known as PFAS, are a class of man-made per-and polyfluroalkyl substances that persist in the environment and don’t break down. PFAS chemicals have been around for over 70 years and have been unregulated by the EPA for decades. Authors LeeAnn Racz and David Kempisty document in this book, "Forever Chemicals" Environmental, Economic, and Social Equity Concerns with PFAS in the Environment, the challenges with analytical testing, risk assessments, regulatory implications, consumer...

PFAS is one of the hottest topics in the industry. Can you say Parts Per Quadrillion! In this episode we talk with Taryn McKnight, the PFAS Practice Leader for Eurofins. We cover PFAS regulatory concerns related to how States and the EPA are addressing this emerging contaminant of concern. We dig into laboratory testing and sampling challenges as well as the need for more defined analytical testing methods. Other topics covered include the need for more product and toxicological testing, and a m...

This week’s podcast interview is with Bruno Pigott, the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, where he give us the State of Union on the Environmental initiatives and future priorities for IDEM in 2021. In episode 2 of this series, we talk about Stormwater Management initiatives, statewide PFAS water sampling programs, Curbside Recycling, and how IDEM managed environmental compliance during the COVID crisis. You will not want to miss this informative episode. So che...