Comment submitted by Andrea Amico

My name is Andrea Amico, and I live in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I am a co-founder of Testing for Pease, a community action group, and I also helped co-found the National PFAS Contamination Coalition in 2017. For more than a decade, I have advocated for my community and for families across the country whose drinking water has been contaminated with PFAS. I strongly oppose the EPA's proposal to delay implementation of the PFAS drinking water standards by two years. Delaying compliance makes no financial or public health sense. It means innocent communities will continue to be exposed to dangerous chemicals while the cost of treatment continues to rise. Communities impacted by PFAS have already paid enough in our health, our time, our finances, and our peace of mind. Every additional year of delay increases the eventual cost of installing treatment systems while allowing contamination and harmful exposures to continue. I urge the EPA to reject this proposed delay and maintain the original compliance timeline. Communities that have already waited decades for safe drinking water should not be asked to wait any longer. On July 1, 2026, I joined the EPA's public comment session on Zoom and listened throughout the day as people from across the country shared their experiences. I left that hearing both angry and heartbroken. I was angry that communities that have already endured so much must once again plead with the EPA to do the right thing. I was angry that this process to delay and weaken PFAS drinking water standards, MCLs that were finalized more than two years ago based on sound science, is happening at all. The EPA already knows what needs to be done: continue the work you started, uphold and enforce the six finalized PFAS MCLs, and meet the original 2029 compliance deadline. I was heartbroken by the stories I heard; the grief, the desperation, and the courage of people from every corner of this country, representing every profession and every walk of life, asking the EPA to protect them. I was heartbroken by the devastating illnesses, losses, and lifelong consequences that PFAS contamination has caused. I have attended many of these hearings over the years and have repeatedly asked the EPA to help our communities. Yet here we are again, forced to beg for the basic protection of safe drinking water. How much more evidence is needed? How many more families must suffer before the EPA fully acts to protect people who were exposed through no fault of their own? This hearing was demoralizing, heartbreaking, and infuriating. I sincerely hope the EPA listened carefully to the voices of those who shared their experiences. I urge you to finish what you started. Do not back down or waver in the face of industry pressure. Honor the science, uphold the law, and protect the American people from one of the most devastating environmental contamination crises of our lifetime.