The PFAS Emergence: Is it Summer Yet?
A Mid-2022 Update on PFAS Policy, Risk, and Treatment

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About

PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are a family of man-made chemicals consisting of thousands of distinct chemical structures that have been manufactured and used in a wide variety of industrial processes and consumer products for the past 80 years. Their extensive use as a key manufacturing component is due to their desirable contribution(s) to the physical properties of these products, but after nearly a century of use has resulted in a ubiquitous presence in both urban/industrial and undeveloped/natural environments. Over the past decade or more, concern pertaining to PFAS’ potential adverse health and environmental effects has been steadily increasing. PFAS resistance to natural degradation processes, our incomplete understanding of their toxic effect on human health and the environment, and the limited number of cost-effective alternatives to remove them from contact with potential human and ecological receptors, has understandably generated a flurry of scientific research and development of engineering and social solutions to mitigate these growing concerns.

The scale and complexity of challenges associated with PFAS are such that a diverse range of environmental professionals will be faced with addressing PFAS-related issues over the coming decade. As with other emerging contaminants, the initial focus has been on establishing how to find and measure PFAS presence in sediment, soil, drinking water, groundwater, surface water, wastewater/biosolids, landfill leachate, and other media of concern. There are new Federal and State regulations underway, concerns about how to best address emerging contaminants in consideration of Environmental Justice policies, and uncertainties in the impact to and potential role that natural resources will play in managing PFAS risk. This results in the need for environmental attorneys, planners & economists, natural resource specialists, toxicologists, site investigation and cleanup professionals, and other environmental professionals to work together to develop a better understanding of PFAS characteristics and risk management policies and technologies.

In this webinar our panelists will focus on what we know about:

• The development of Federal and State regulatory actions
• Assessing and managing risk
• The challenges of and alternatives for the removal and destruction of PFAS constituents in environmental media.

After many years of study, there remains much to learn about PFAS and other emerging contaminants. Have we reached Summer in terms of growth in our understanding, or are we in a perpetual Spring of policy and knowledge germination? Please join and plan to contribute to our discussion as we consider the likely sunny and stormy PFAS future faced by environmental professionals.

Moderator

Dennis Peters 
Registered Environmental Manager REM
Haley & Aldrich

Dennis Peters is a Registered Environmental Manager who specializes in environmental site investigation, site restoration and multi-media regulatory compliance. His experience includes over 30 years conducting or overseeing environmental site assessments, CERCLA and RCRA site characterization and remediation, RCRA waste disposal, solid waste consulting and design, industrial wastewater and contaminated groundwater treatment process evaluations and design, and in-situ and ex-situ remedial design and construction.

Dennis currently serves as an At-Large Director for the National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) and has served as a Director of the NAEP Hawai‘i Chapter since 2003.  

Speakers

Ned Witte 
Attorney
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.

Ned Witte represents clients in the service and manufacturing industries as well as government bodies in a wide range of environmental matters in Wisconsin and across the U.S. Ned has nationally recognized experience in counseling clients concerning the emerging contaminants Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS (including PFOA and PFOS). Ned, and Godfrey & Kahn, represent clients with interests in numerous PFAS sites in Wisconsin including at disposal sites, manufacturing sites and locations where PFAS-containing aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) has been discharged. In late 2020, Ned was selected by the Biden-Harris Agency Review Team for the United States Environmental Protection Agency to consult on PFAS issues.

The Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recently invited Ned to serve as a member of the newly formed Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources PFAS Policy Advisory Group. Ned served as Co-Chair of the Citizens and Public Interest Committee for the State of Wisconsin PFAS Action Council (WisPAC), which generated the 2020 Wisconsin PFAS Action Plan. Ned is a member of the ASTM Collaboration Area AC417 – PFAS Real Estate, Legal, Due Diligence Focus Group supporting the Committee E50 on Environmental Assessment and Risk Management, and has presented on PFAS issues before the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the 2020 Emerging Contaminants Summit in Westminster, Colorado, national seminars, and state and federal bar association continuing legal education seminars.

Ned has extensive experience in the development and redevelopment of environmentally sensitive and contaminated properties, including Brownfields, coordinating Superfund site response activities, and siting and permitting of manufacturing facilities and renewable and traditional energy projects. Ned also has structured and served as lead counsel in environmental due diligence and liability allocation in real estate, financing and corporate transactions, defense of government- and private party-lead enforcement actions, and conversely, enforcement of environmental contractual rights against third parties. 

Jay Peters
Risk Assessment Practice Leader
Haley & Aldrich

Jay Peters is a human health risk assessor who specializes in developing risk-based regulatory closure strategies, risk communications, and risk assessments for Superfund Sites, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act sites, and Brownfields redevelopment sites nationally.  He has over 30 years’ experience developing risk-based strategies for managing and redeveloping contaminated sites under the regulatory frameworks of more than 20 state cleanup programs and seven EPA regions. He is the Risk Assessment Practice Leader at Haley & Aldrich, Inc. and a member of their emerging contaminants practice, where he has evaluated health risks associated with PFAS, been engaged in applied research, and served as a speaker on PFAS topics. He holds a BS in Toxicology from Northeastern University and an MS in Environmental Health from Tufts University.

Scott Grieco, PhD, PE
Global Technology Leader 
Jacobs 

Dr. Grieco is the Global Technology Leader for Groundwater Treatment and Emerging Contaminants with Jacobs’ Drinking Water & Reuse group. His area of expertise is physical/chemical treatment of emerging contaminants and persistent environmental compounds. For the past 10 years, Scott has focused on evaluation and treatment of PFAS in drinking water, wastewater, landfill leachate, and biosolids.  

He has over 30 years of experience in the evaluation, design, and optimization of water treatment systems across the public utility, remediation, and industrial sectors. He has served as Adjunct Faculty at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Scott holds a BS in Chemical Engineering, MS in Environmental Engineering, and PhD in Bioprocess Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer in New York.

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