House Passes Defense Spending Bill with Promising Public Health Provisions

WASHINGTON – The National Defense Authorization Act passed by the House today contained a host of provisions addressing the widening crisis over toxic chemicals known as PFAS and enhancing our military installations’ resilience to catastrophic climate change.
 

The following is a statement by Brian Siu, director of federal affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“This is a welcome change. Instead of dismantling bedrock environmental laws, as the defense spending bill has done in recent years, it takes significant steps to protect the public from toxic PFAS chemicals, including those released from military bases. And it acts on the reality that climate change is a significant national security threat. The House Armed Services majority has done tremendous work protecting Americans from these risks.”

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.