Podcast
TalkingPFAS
Hosted by Kayleen Bell · EN
Talking PFAS contamination with those who live on or near it; with a wide range of experts who study PFAS and its health effects; with those who have worked with this toxic chemical; with those who are trying to remove it from the environment & people, and with the politicians and Government who have the power to fix this problem
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep 49 Alison Ling (Ali) University of St Thomas, St Paul, Minnesota Costs of removing PFAS
Nov 1200:58:58Tap to summarize Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast and if you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Last episode I brought you a discussion with Boston Attorney John Gardella from CMBG3 Law. This was a very informative chat about some PFAS developments in the US, and changes to the US EPA under Trump administration. Here is a little of what John had to say from Episode 48 where he is talking a change to the environmental justice law in the US. “Under the Biden Administration there was a large initiative for something we call environmental justice, which is essentially that when enacting environmental laws or pursuing sites to clean up that consideration should be made to historically poorer communities and socioeconomic backgrounds, communities where there has been historically a lot of concentration pollution because they have been in an industrial area for example. And the environmental justice program in the US has been eliminated under the EPA, under the new Trump Administration.” There is a lot of key information in that discussion with John Gardella and I encourage you to take a listen. I included that little portion from the last episode because in today’s discussion my guest and I will be talking about costs of cleaning up PFAS, and the need to reduce PFAS production. My guest today is Alison Ling. She is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering and works in the Department of Civil Engineering, at the University of St. Thomas, at St Paul in Minnesota. Today we will be discussing a couple of her papers. Here is a little preview from our discussion: “When I first ran those calculations it comes out as millions of dollars per kg of PFAS that you remove from the environment and that is millions of dollars whether it is from wastewater effluent, drinking water, wastewater biosolids, soils. It is almost across the board millions of dollars per kilogram and I was just blown away by those numbers. That was way more than I was expecting. But the thought exercise I went through for this paper is if we keep making and emitting PFAS at the rate that we are emitting them right now, which is on the order of millions of tonnes per year, how much would it cost to remove them at the same rate? And so, if you have millions of tonnes of PFAS per year and it costs millions of dollars per kilogram of PFAS to remove it, if you multiply those numbers you get a number that is similar to or greater than the global GDP.” This is estimated to be around $106 trillion dollars. I hope you enjoyed today’s discussion, I certainly did. If you have found value in the Talking PFAS podcast I would be really grateful if you would review and share the podcast so others can find it. Also please subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. I will be back with one more feature episode before the end of the year. I will also be brining you a new product Talking PFAS News which will be a shorter episode 10-15 minutes about PFAS news in Australia and globally. I am now accepting expressions of interest from sponsors for the Talking PFAS feature and news episodes. This is open to remediation companies that are cleaning up PFAS and companies that have removed PFAS chemicals from their manufacturing processes and would like the public to know. Please note terms and conditions apply to all sponsorships and I will maintain full editorial control over the content of the episodes. Thank you to Pete Murphy and EPOC Enviro in Australia for being the first Talking PFAS podcast sponsor. You can email me at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com with PFAS information or sponsorship enquiries. Thank you again for listening see you next time. LINKS mentioned in today’s episode. “Estimated Scale of Costs to Remove PFAS from the Environment at current emission rates.” Main webpage not open access/publicly available: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969724007861. The full "pre-print" which has the same content is available through the SSRN here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4718530 “Is Removal and destruction of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances from wastewater effluent affordable.” This one is open access, available here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wer.10975 https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2025/01/14/pfas-the-astronomical-cost-of-depolluting-europe_6737022_8.html https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/14/cost-clean-up-toxic-pfas-pollution-forever-chemicals “The Global Threat from the Irreversible Accumulation of Trifluoroacetic Acid (TFA) – ACS Publications” Hans Peter H. Arp, Andrea Gredelj, Juliane Gluge, Martin Scheringer, and Ian T. Cousins https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c06189 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 48 PFAS regulation and litigation in US with Boston Attorney John Gardella from CMBG3 Law
Jul 2200:57:46Tap to summarizeWelcome back to the Talking PFAS podcast. If you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Last week I brought you a discussion with Peter Murphy, the Managing Director of EPOC Enviro. This Australian company recently managed to secure patents in Australia and the US for their SAFF technology. I encourage you to have a listen to that episode to learn more about the SAFF suite of products using foam fractionation to remove PFAS. And I would like to also take this opportunity to thank EPOC Enviro for sponsoring today’s episode of Talking PFAS podcast. You will hear a short announcement from Pete about midway through today’s episode. And at the end of today’s episode there will be a short announcement about how you can get involved with sponsorship for Talking PFAS podcast and you can read about it of course in the show notes. Today’s guest is a very welcome return guest to the Talking PFAS podcast. It is Environmental Lawyer, John Gardella, Boston Attorney, from CMBG3 Law in the United States. John had the honour of being the only person in the country that was recognised as the thought leader on PFAS in 2020 and 2021 by the esteemed National Law Review. He writes regularly for the National Law Review and his website on PFAS. We had a really interesting and informative discussion about litigation, and regulation updates in the US, including the current rollbacks that are currently happening under the Trump EPA. There is also some other really important information in today’s episode about PFAS and health effects including some new ones that are being acknowledged by the legal system in the US. John also talks about how companies need to remain vigilant at looking at their processes to see if PFAS is involved in them to protect themselves from PFAS litigation. In today’s episode we talk about one particular case which John is currently involved in at the moment where a company is being sued for using water that contained PFAS in their manufacturing and they didn’t know. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and don’t forget to check out the show notes and also if you enjoy the Talking PFAS podcast please consider subscribing so that you don’t miss an episode and also sharing it with your colleagues and friends. And next episode of Talking PFAS I will be bringing you a discussion I had with Alison Ling she is from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of St. Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota in the US. We are going to be discussing a couple of research papers that Alison Ling has been the main author on and this was from her paper about the estimated scale of costs to remove PFAS from the environment at current emission rates and that paper states that "the current costs to remove and destroy the total PFAS mass released annually into the environment would likely exceed the global GDP of $106 trillion US dollars." And she goes on to point out that "while this level of treatment is not technically or economically achievable it highlights the unaffordability of using environmental remediation alone to manage environmental PFAS stocks. Without significant reductions in productions and emissions the mass of PFAS present in the global environment will continue to rise." So I look forward to bringing you that discussion with Alison Ling. Lastly if you are a remediation company or a company that specialises in selling PFAS free products please contact me at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com to find out more about how you can get involved with limited sponsorship opportunities. Please note terms and conditions do apply and I maintain full editorial control. Also any featured remediation companies is not my endorsement. Thank you again for listening see you next time. Thank you again to EPOC Enviro who were today’s sponsor of Talking PFAS podcast. EPOC Enviro home page: https://epocenviro.com/ SAFF Family: https://epocenviro.com/saff-family/ Technical Publications: https://epocenviro.com/technical-publications/ Case Studies: https://epocenviro.com/projects/ Socials: https://www.linkedin.com/company/epoc-enviro/?viewAsMember=true Contact Details: info@epocenviro.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 47 Season 7 Peter Murphy EPOC Enviro Australia SAFF Foam Fractionation
Jul 401:05:31Tap to summarizeWelcome back to the Talking PFAS podcast. If you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Last episode I brought you a discussion with Adjunct Professor David Beale. He is a senior research scientist who leads the CSIRO’s Ecosurveillance Systems team in Queensland. We discussed David’s work looking at the effects of PFAS on some freshwater turtles in Queensland, following a PFAS contamination event. And I encourage you to have a listen to that episode. Today my guest and I will be discussing in depth one of many remediation methods for removing PFAS from water. Specifically we will be talking about the method of foam fractionation to remove PFAS. My guest is Peter Murphy, the Managing Director of EPOC Enviro. This Australian company has recently managed to secure patents in Australia and the US for their SAFF technology. On the 10/03/2025 EPOC Enviro announced the recent approval of its foam fractionation patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office, securing exclusive rights for SAFF technology in the territory through to December, 2040. And on the 1/04/2025 EPOC Enviro announced the approval of its foam fractionation patent by IP Australia securing exclusive rights for SAFF technology Down Under through to December 2038. EPOC Enviro first conceived of foam fractionation as a method for PFAS removal in 2015 and has since developed a fleet of PFAS remediation technologies based on this principle. The technology has now successfully treated nearly 2 billion litres (or 530,000,000+ gallons) of PFAS impacted waters across three continents. EPOC Enviro also has just released the news of the latest addition to their fleet of PFAS remediation technology being the SAFF 10 unit and you will hear more about that today from Peter. The systems have been used in Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, England, Australia and the US. At the moment they are going to be looking to expand into Japan and Israel. I hope you enjoyed today’s discussion. Next episode I will be bringing you a discussion I had with John Gardella an Attorney from CMBG3 Law in Boston. John is a return guest to the Talking PFAS podcast and it is always very informative to speak with him. John had the honour of being the only person in the country that was recognised as a thought leader on PFAS in 2020 and 2021 by the esteemed National Law Review. He writes regularly for the National Law Review and his website on PFAS. We had a really interesting and informative discussion about litigation, and regulation updates, including the rollbacks that are happening under the Trump EPA. There is also some other really important information in next week’s episode about the health effects of PFAS including some new ones that are being acknowledged by the legal system in the US. I highly recommend you come back and listen to this episode which is not to be missed. We also talk about how companies need to remain vigilant in protecting themselves from PFAS litigation. I also would like to announce that today’s guest EPOC Enviro have agreed to sponsor my next episode. If you are a remediation company and are interested in finding out more about sponsorship opportunities please email TalkingPFAS@gmail.com. Please note terms and conditions do apply, including being subject to the usual journalism rigour I apply to all my interviews, and the agreement that I will maintain editorial control over the discussion about your company’s technology, discussing pros and cons. I look forward to you coming back to join me again for some more great PFAS discussions. Lastly, to my valued listeners, thank you for listening! Please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode and also consider posting a review and consider sharing the podcast with a colleague or friend. Thank you, it would just help more people get to hear this podcast. Thank you again for listening, see you next time. EPOC Enviro home page: https://epocenviro.com/ SAFF Family: https://epocenviro.com/saff-family/ Technical Publications: https://epocenviro.com/technical-publications/ Case Studies: https://epocenviro.com/projects/ Socials: https://www.linkedin.com/company/epoc-enviro/?viewAsMember=true Contact Details: info@epocenviro.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 46 Season 7 PFAS in Turtles QLD with David Beale also for QLD SL oral history
Jun 2301:08:01Tap to summarizeWelcome back to the Talking PFAS podcast. If you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Last episode I brought you a very interesting discussion with Dr Cheng Zhang from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland in Australia. We spoke about many things but mainly we discussed how his team of researchers have discovered that retrieved PFAS can be used in batteries. I highly recommend you have a listen to that episode to find out more. Today’s discussion will complete the PFAS collection of interviews that I have recorded for the Queensland State Library digital PFAS collection. I will put a link to that collection in today’s show notes. Now a little about my guest today, he is Adjunct Professor David Beale, a senior research scientist who leads the CSIRO’s Ecosurveillance Systems team in Queensland. The majority of David’s research career is looking at the impact of contaminants on organisms, whether it be wildlife or humans or any biological system. He has made significant contributions in the field of environmental applications using specialised omics tools to study the effects of contaminants like PFAS on wildlife. Today we will be focusing on David’s work looking at the effects of PFAS on some freshwater turtles in Queensland. He was not able to disclose the location where these turtles are indeed being affected by PFAS contamination, but he was able to say that the PFAS event that caused the contamination, occurred in around 2017/2018 in Australia. David’s team are also doing work looking at the effects of PFAS on other wildlife such as marine turtles, some snakes and frogs, including cane toads, and water dragons around South- East Queensland. David advised me that he has received a CSIRO Julius Career Award which has allowed him to meet and collaborate with environmental regulators worldwide using omics-based tools to assess pollution impacts with a significant focus on PFAS. As part of his JCA travels, he has visited the USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Canadian Department of Climate Change & Environment, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and many other leading academic institutions and environmental regulators across the UK, Europe, Asia and North America. David said that from their research looking at PFAS effects on freshwater turtles, their results demonstrate that there is an impact, that they are seeing now. He said it could be a generational impact where the particular species of freshwater turtle studied may not exist in the future because of PFAS. Another big message from David Beale in today’s discussion is that “there just isn’t enough focus on researching the effects of chemical contaminants on wildlife,” in Australia. Next episode I will be bringing you a discussion I had with Peter Murphy from EPOC Enviro (https://epocenviro.com/). We talk about the latest news and developments for this Aussie remediation company including discussing their US and Australian patents for their foam fractionation technology used in their SAFF suite of products. And finally a quick announcement, I am now taking expressions of interest from remediation companies to explore sponsorship opportunities for the Talking PFAS podcast. For more details (& the terms and conditions) you can email me your details including phone number at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com I look forward to you coming back to join me again for some more great PFAS discussions. Lastly, to my valued listeners, thank you for listening! Please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode and consider posting a review or sharing the podcast with a colleague or friend. Copyright Notice: As always all information in today’s episode is covered by copyright law. Please feel free to share links to this episode broadly, in its entirety (no edited version allowed), to social media or via text or email. If you are a guest in the podcast you have permission to publish a link to the full episode, with attribution to Talking PFAS podcast, produced by journalist Kayleen Bell, on your own website. Contact me at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com Show Notes Links: QLD State Library PFAS oral history collection by Kayleen Bell https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=61SLQ_INST:SLQ&search_scope=SLQ_collections&tab=All&docid=alma99183795520502061 1. Paper 1 discussed today: “Forever chemicals don’t make hero mutant ninja turtles: Elevated PFAS levels linked to unusual scute development in newly emerged freshwater turtle hatchlings (Emydura macquarii macquarii) and a reduction in turtle populations.” David Beale et al. Science of The Total Environment Volume 956, 15 December, 2024. Elsevier (open access). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724064696 2. Paper 2 discussed today: “Partitioning of PFAS to serum, tissues, eggs and hatchlings of an Australian freshwater turtle.” Suzanne Vardy et al (& David Beale). Journal of Hazardous Materials. Elsevier (open access). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389424004643?via%3Dihub 3. Current Australian Inquiry PFAS: Select Committee on PFAS: On 22 August 2024, the Senate appointed a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on PFAS (per and polyfluoroalkyl substances), to inquire into the extent, regulation and management of PFAS, and present its final report by 5 August 2025. The committee has reopened submissions and welcomes contributions from community members impacted by PFAS, and other interested parties. The committee secretariat can also help with any inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3247 or by email to PFAS.sen@aph.gov.au. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/PFAS_per_and_polyfluoroalkyl_substances/PFAS/Terms_of_Reference CSIRO Submission #22 https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/PFAS_per_and_polyfluoroalkyl_substances/PFAS/Submissions Thank you !!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 45 Season 7 Talking PFAS Batteries Dr Cheng Zhang also for QLD SL
May 2301:02:04Tap to summarizeTalking PFAS Episode 45 - Recorded 04/02/2025 at the ABIS QLD with Dr Cheng Zhang on PFAS in batteries and PFAS sorbents, and landfill remediation techniques. Welcome back to the Talking PFAS podcast. If you are joining me for the first time a very big welcome to you. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. I am so very glad to be back to bring you a new season of Talking PFAS podcast. There is so much PFAS news to catch up on and many new developments to bring you this season from both here in Australia and globally. I will also have an important announcement at the end of today’s episode regarding sponsorship opportunities. Today’s episode is one of the final interviews I recorded for the QLD State Library digital PFAS oral history collection. This interview will be added to my publicly available and free collection of interviews held in the QLD State Library in Australia. I will put a link to that collection in the show notes. My guest today is Dr Cheng Zhang from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland in Australia. He has an outstanding track record in the fields of fluoropolymers, polymer chemistry and materials science. Today’s discussion covers many topics, and in parts it is quite technical, but you can read along with the transcript, which is automatically prepared (not by me). The transcript prepared and fact checked by me will be available in the QLD State Library collection which may take a few months to become available. Also, one important disclaimer to add regarding today’s discussion is that it is provided for information purposes only. There is a portion of our chat that discusses possible ways to reduce PFAS in the body such as blood donation, and also a possible future oral drug, that may be able to remove or reduce PFAS levels from the blood. I emphasise strongly that this area is an upcoming research area for Dr Zhang’s team and both Dr Cheng Zhang and I are not medical practitioners, and as such, our discussion today should absolutely not be taken as medical advice for anyone concerned about PFAS levels in their blood. Listeners are advised to seek their own medical advice from experts in the field before using any oral medication or rushing to blood donation. Thank you. Now, with that out of the way, it is my pleasure to tell you a little more about Dr Zhang before I play today’s episode. We mainly discuss how Dr Zhang and his team of researchers have developed a way to remove PFAS from water and landfill leachate using special sorbents. The plan is to then take the removed PFAS and use it in batteries. His team are also shortly conducting a pilot program at Brisbane’s Luggage Point Wastewater Treatment Plant to remove PFAS from landfill leachate. Dr Zhang says up until now there has been no treatment for PFAS in landfill leachate and also he says that the retrieved PFAS offers benefits to battery manufacturers. He also talks about his connections with international industry partners like Chemours, US Department of Defence, and companies in Australia like GHD, and in New Zealand OCTA. Next episode I will be bringing you a discussion that I had with David Beale. He is from the Environment Research Unit at the CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in the Eco Sciences Precinct in Dutton Park, QLD. He has done some work looking at the impacts of PFAS on freshwater turtles. It is a really interesting discussion and I encourage you to come back and have a listen to that one. And finally, I am pleased to announce that, as many remediation companies have already reached out to me about their remediation methods for PFAS, I am now taking expressions of interest from remediation companies to explore sponsorship opportunities for the Talking PFAS podcast. Please feel free to email TalkingPFAS@gmail.com thank you very much, and make sure you provide your phone number. To my valued listeners: Thank you for listening. Please consider subscribing to the podcast so you don't miss an episode and consider posting a review. As always all information in today's episode is copyright. Please feel free to share links to this episode in its entirety to social media or via email. If you are featured in the podcast you have permission to publish a link to the full episode on your own website. Contact me TalkingPFAS@gmail.com Links from Today's episode: Fluorination in advanced battery design Wang et al https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:b4c24c4 OECD (2024), Synthesis report on understanding Perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs) and their life cycle, OECD Series on Risk Management of Chemicals, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/99ee2d3e-en. Gasiorowski R, Forbes MK, Silver G, et al. Effect of Plasma and Blood Donations on Levels of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Firefighters in Australia: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(4):e226257. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.6257 QLD State Library - PFAS oral history collection by Kayleen Bell https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?context=L&vid=61SLQ_INST:SLQ&search_scope=SLQ_collections&tab=All&docid=alma99183795520502061 Juliane Gluge from Zurich, Switzerland paper “An Overview of the uses of PFAS” https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/em/d0em00291g See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 44 Talking PFAS CRC Care Masterclass with Paul Nathanail (UK) & Scott Warner (US)
May 19, 202300:53:58Tap to summarizeTalking PFAS Episode 44 Show Description/Notes/Links INTRO: Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. If you are new to the podcast, I encourage you to have a binge listen, as the content is, of course, still very relevant today as attention, regulation and litigation regarding PFAS chemicals continues to accelerate. Today’s discussion is an Interview with two guests who were training people at the CRC Care Risk to Remediation Masterclass in Newcastle from the 1-5 May, 2023. My guests are Paul Nathanail from Nottingham, England, Technical Director of LQM, which specialises in contaminated land management in England and around the world. I have previously interview Paul before, when he was a keynote speaker at CRC Care International Clean Up Conference in Adelaide, South Australia. You can hear that very important discussion in episode 37. My second guest is Scott Warner, from California, who is a geologist, and has specialised as a hydrogeologist studying and assessing groundwater conditions, for 40 years. Scott is the Principal Hydrogeologist for the BBJ Group. In early May I had the privilege of attending one of the training days at the CRC Care’s 4th Risk to Remediation Masterclass. This course was held from the 1-5 May, 2023, at Newcastle (NSW), Australia. I interviewed Paul and Scott at the end of a long week and a long day of very in depth training. It is important to clarify that this was not a course that was solely dedicated to PFAS remediation but remediation in general, which included PFAS. CRC Care provided me with this information following the event: “The CRC are Risk to Remediation Masterclass was a five-day course that provided participants with the cutting edge skills to manage and remediate contaminated sites in Australia and globally. This course was developed in response to the critical need to build capacity to address the growing global contamination crisis. While technical lessons learned through the study of past projects an advantage of this course was the semi-structured discussions problem-solving and personal interactions that allowed participants to consider the many facets of modern contaminant site assessment and remedial design. The course also discussed aspects of sustainable low impact remediation approaches, climate change considerations, policy and regulatory matters and economic considerations, all within the context of gaining and maintaining a social licence to operate. There were 75 delegates present, and the Masterclass 2023 was attended by delegates from Australia and from overseas. The delegates were from a varied background and experience. They were from Department of Defence, regulators for EPA VIC and EPA Tasmania, Federal Government, consultants and practitioners, academia, scientists, researchers and early career professionals. And the overseas delegates were from Malaysia and South Africa. Now to my discussion with Paul Nathanail from the UK and Scott Warner from California. Special thanks to CRC Care for allowing me to attend. LINKS: Link to Scott Warner’s survey: https://forms.office.com/r/iSZdvnN6XS Link to Scott Warner’s Wiley paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/rem.21753 Link to Scott Warner’s company BBJ Group: https://www.bbjgroup.com/ Link to Paul Nathanail company LQM: https://www.lqm.co.uk/pages/meet-the-team Link to CRC Care: https://crccare.com/ OUTRO: (With Important PFAS News from Australia) I hope to bring you some information from the ALGA event that I attended at the end of April later in this season. PFAS NEWS AUSTRALIA I have some big. Australia PFAS news. You might have heard me mention a Super Class Action which is now being referred to as a Multi-Site PFAS Class Action. The following information is largely taken from a Shine Lawyers media release, but not all is a direct quote. The applicants in the multi-site PFAS Class Action represented by Shine Lawyers have reached an ‘in principle’ agreement with the Commonwealth to settle the multi-site PFAS Contamination class action against the Department of Defence. These are residents from seven communities across Bullsbrook (WA), Richmond (NSW), Wagga Wagga (NSW), Wodonga/Bandiana (VIC), Edinburgh (SA), Darwin (NT), and Townsville (QLD). Shine Lawyers state that those seven communities were set to head to the Federal Court for the start of a trial which would examine the Commonwealth’s alleged responsibility for the spread of PFAS chemicals from military bases across the country into neighboring communities soil and groundwater. Shine lawyers fought to compensate residents living near these military bases after their properties lost value due to contamination caused by these toxic chemicals and the parties have agreed in principle on an amount of $132.7 million and the break-up of that amount is yet to be determined but it could include up to 30,000 people. Shine Lawyers joint head of class actions Craig Allsop said while the news is positive the outcome is still subject to approval by the Federal Court. Shine Lawyers will continue to pursue compensation for residents of Wreck Bay in the matter of Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council and Anor -v- the Commonwealth. And Justice Lee ordered a further remediation in the Wreck Bay proceeding and stood the hearing down until the 29th of May. I hope to bring you more about the super class action in the future in the podcast. And I encourage any of the residents who were involved in this class action and would like to share their PFAS story to please reach out to me at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com If you have not subscribed to the podcast I encourage you to subscribe so that you will not miss an episode. As always all information in today’s episode is copyright but please feel free to share the episode via email or social media or wherever you share your podcasts and please contact me for republishing permissions. Thanks again for listening - I value your feedback and suggestions. Listening Tip: I know most of my listeners prefer to listen on their mobile, and I personally like to listen to podcasts on my mobile with earbuds, but for some people this episode might be better to listen to on a desktop. This is only if you don’t like very mild background noise from the nearby bingo that was happening outside the room we interviewed in at the event venue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 43 (PFAS Australia) EPOC Enviro Peter Murphy SAFF - PFAS removal using Foam Fractionation - 26:4:2023, 10.11 pm
Apr 26, 202301:05:35Tap to summarizeShow Notes: Talking PFAS with Peter Murphy, MD EPOC Enviro (OPEC Systems) regarding PFAS remediation using their SAFF Foam Fractionation Technology – Published Wed 26/4/2023 Welcome back to Talking PFAS podcast. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. If you are joining us for the first time a very big welcome. I encourage you to listen to past episodes, with a range of really excellent guests from around the world. Just before I introduce today’s guest, I encourage you to have a listen to Episode 42, which published yesterday. It is an update of the US EPA's proposed regulations regarding PFAS in drinking water. If the proposed MCLs are approved they will become mandatory levels. As discussed in last week’s episode the guidelines and regulatory limits for certain PFAS keep going down. The number of PFAS lawsuits keep increasing, and the number of PFAS contaminated sites keeps growing. This means there will be no shortage of PFAS remediation work for quite some time. In fact, in a PFAS remediation special edition of the Environmental Business Journal published in 2019 they state, and I quote: “The Environmental Business Journal has wrestled with the extent and scale of the PFAS Era in market terms. The EBJ has published a working model which reflects a consensus on the scale of the emerging PFAS market. The EBJ model includes major contributions from both waste and wastewater system upgrades and lifestyle costs as well as remediation. The model published in 2019 points to the possibility of expenditures in excess of $160 billion over the next 20-30 years and over 40,000 sites or facilities where significant PFAS contamination will likely be identified and treated or remediated at some level.” Today’s discussion is another chat about a PFAS remediation method. Today’s guest is Peter Murphy Managing Director of an Australian based company, OPEC Systems. OPEC Systems trades as EPOC Enviro around the rest of the world which stands for Emerging Pollutants of Concern. Today we will be discussing at length EPOC’s PFAS remediation technology for removing PFAS from water and landfill leachate using their SAFF systems. We also discuss the challenges that short chain PFAS compounds continue to present to remediators and how the SAFF has navigated these challenges so far. SAFF system trials have already been conducted in Oakey QLD at a Department of Defence site, and at a landfill site in Telgay Sweden. These two systems have now moved out of their trial period into a fixed contract period. SAFF has also been trialed in UK, as well as an undisclosed location in the US on the East Coast of New York and will be involved in projects in Spain, Germany, Massachusett’s and Minnesota. And just recently announced on the 13/4/2023 EPOC Enviro announced plans to open a major manufacturing facility in Statesville, North Carolina, with the first US built SAFF units scheduled to start PFAS remediation work in July 2023. Pete Murphy from EPOC states in their recent media release: “Our award-winning SAFF technology has already visited eight different US states, and we are looking forward to leveraging this impact to all corners of the globe including back home in Australia to help communities remediate their PFAS impacted waters.” However, despite the huge investments in remediation technology that are happening around the world, very little if any money has been invested to come up with solutions to clean up private land or farms that have been contaminated by PFAS. That is certainly the case in Australia and indeed also in many other parts of the world. I discussed this scenario very briefly with Pete today at the end of the episode. Please note: I am an independent journalist and a podcaster no money was received for today’s interview. If in the future money is received from remediation companies (as sponsorship) to support the continuation of this podcast I will disclose this. Also any discussions with remediation companies is for information purposes, I am not endorsing any product or remediation method over another. Copyright: Please share the episode (in whole) with acknowledgement via social media or website, but anyone wishing to edit, alter, or republish any information from this podcast in another form is subject to copyright and must contact the rights holder at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com. OPEC Information For more information on SAFF: www.epocenviro.com Phone: +1 844 662 3762 Email: info@epocenviro.com Wiley articles: "PFAS Removal from Groundwaters Using Surface-Active Foam Fractionation" Burns et al Published 24/8/2021 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rem.21694 "Commercial Scale Remediation of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances from a Landfill leachate catchment using Surface Active Foam Fractionation (SAFF)" Burns et al 1/6/2022 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rem.21720 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 42 (PFAS in US) - US EPA PFAS Regulation & Litigation US (Attorney John Gardella Boston)
Apr 25, 202300:45:23Tap to summarizeShow Notes Talking PFAS Episode 42 – Published 25/4/2023 Welcome back to Talking PFAS Podcast. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Today’s episode is the launch of Season 6, and I want to give a big thank you to everybody who continually listens to Talking PFAS podcast, and for sending me your emails on how much you enjoy it. If you are new to the podcast, I encourage you to have a binge, as the content, of course, is still very relevant today as attention, regulation and litigation regarding PFAS chemicals continues to accelerate. In the Talking PFAS episode today we will be taking a closer look at what US EPA is doing regarding their proposed PFAS drinking water regulation. And it is important to note that I will be giving an overview, from their overview, so for you to get the full context of what they are doing, I strongly encourage you to look at their website. Also I really encourage you to look at their two webinars. One was on the 16/3/23 and one was on the 29/3/23. They are excellent. They will give you all the information that you need whether you are somebody affected by PFAS contamination, or responsible to keep it out of drinking water, or responsible to clean it up. And also, they go into great detail in parts of these webinars, but for the most part they are very easy to understand. I just need to mention, in the intro, the proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation, that US EPA has proposed, is not an enforceable regulation yet, as some information online and some news articles have reported that it is. It is simply a proposal at this point. Today I am going to share some key information from the US EPA webinars on these proposed changes to drinking water regulation and I will put a link in my show notes. And also the US EPA is running a virtual public hearing on May 4 and they are asking people to register and submit comments. They will also take oral comments and written comments for this public hearing on May 4. Throughout today’s discussion I am always talking about US EPA if I just say the word EPA, just for clarification. I will also be sharing some of my interview with Boston Attorney John Gardella from CMBG3 Law. This is a repeat from Episode 33 but I will not be publishing the whole of Episode 33. But as we were discussing all of these changes it is relevant to today’s episode just to give people who are concerned about the legal ramification of these proposed changes. So, I will be replaying it for the benefit of those listeners that are interested in litigation. So why is the US EPA proposing these drinking water regulations regarding PFAS. As they stated in the webinar, “they are taking this action because safe drinking water is fundamental to healthy people and thriving communities.” EPA stated, “we rely on water from the moment we wake up and make a cup of coffee to when we brush our teeth at night. Every person should have access to clean, safe drinking water. That is why EPA is acting now to protect people’s drinking water from PFAS contamination.” As they stated in the webinar “The science is clear. Long-term exposure to certain PFAS is linked to significant health risks.” They continue to quote “people can be exposed to PFAS in a number of ways and when their drinking water is contaminated with PFAS it can be a significant portion of a person’s total PFAS exposure.” This is very important to note, “based on EPA’s evaluation of current best available science, PFOA and PFOS, are found to be likely human carcinogens.” Commenters on the proposed rule have until May 30th this year, 2023, to provide comments to the agency on the proposed rule. Comments must be submitted to the public docket by May 30th for consideration. So, EPA is proposing a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) to establish legal enforceable levels called Maximum Contaminant Levels, (MCLs) for short. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA has the authority to set enforceable National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for drinking water contaminants and require monitoring of public water supplies. To date EPA has regulated more than 90 drinking water contaminants but has not established National drinking water regulations for any PFAS. Now the Agency is developing a proposed National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for PFOS and PFOA and additional certain other PFAS. The EPA is also considering regulatory actions to address groups of PFAS. The Agency expects to issue a final drinking water regulation by the end of 2023, after considering public comments on the proposal. I am now going to play a portion of my interview with Boston Attorney John Gardella from Episode 33, and I will ADD in some more relevant US EPA information around this, including the impacts that the new mandatory drinking water limits, if passed, will have on public water system providers. Now Boston Attorney, John Gardella, has been a regular guest on the Talking PFAS podcast. It is always a great, open and easy to understand conversation with him. He is well-versed on PFAS and writes frequently in the National Law Review and you can catch up on his multiple PFAS articles there. All information is copyright – people can share links to the whole episode and share the show notes with full attribution to Kayleen Bell, journalist and producer Talking PFAS Podcast. Permission must be sought from the rights holder at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com for any other reproduction/republishing use. Next episode to publish Wed 26/4/23 Interview with OPEC Systems (EPOC Enviro) regarding their SAFF PFAS remediation. Thanks again for listening :) SHOW NOTE LINKS: Link to Episode 33 https://omny.fm/shows/talkingpfas/ep-33-boston-attorney-john-gardella-major-pfas-dev?in_playlist=podcast US EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency https://www.epa.gov/pfas Suggested – EPA actions to address PFAS You can find information on the US EPA website above about all of these things we discussed in today’s Talking PFAS episode (and much more) : PFAS Strategic Roadmap National drinking water standard to limit six PFAS Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding for PFAS and Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water Proposed Hazardous Substance Designation for PFOA and PFOS Science Advisory Board Review of Draft PFOA/PFOS Scientific Documents Rule Development for designating PFOA/PFOS as CERCLA Hazardous Substances To watch the webinars I mentioned regarding the Proposed PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation go to https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas Scroll down to find the webinars: March 29, 2023 Technical Overview of the Proposed PFAS NPDWR and March 16, 2023 General Overview Webinar on the Proposed PFAS NPDWR Read more about: Emerging Contaminants (EC) in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant (SDC) https://www.epa.gov/dwcapacity/emerging-contaminants-ec-small-or-disadvantaged-communities-grant-sdc#press Plus access the above link and then scroll down until you see “Funding Allotments” or go to this link: https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2023-02/FY22_FY23_Combined_BIL_EC_Allotments%20Memo%20to%20WDDs_February%202023_signed.pdf This is the 3-page US EPA – Office of Water Memorandum regarding the Allotment of Funding FY 2022 & FY 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Dated 13 February 2023 – that I mentioned in the Talking PFAS Podcast OEHHA – Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (Listings and Responses) https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/crnr/notice-interested-parties-chemical-listed-effective-february-25-2022-known-state “Effective February 25, 2022, for purposes of Proposition 65, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is adding perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (CAS RN 335-67-1) to the list of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer.” OEHHA Response to Comments Pertaining to the Notice of Intent to List Perfluorooctanoic Acid as Causing Cancer Under Proposition 65 https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/crnr/responsecommentspfoa022522.pdf See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 41 (PFAS in US) Scott Coffin California - At Clean-Up Conference 2022 Adelaide, South Australia
Feb 10, 202300:23:19Tap to summarizeWelcome back to Talking PFAS podcast, and if you are joining us for the first time, a very big welcome. I encourage you to listen to previous episodes. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. This is the last episode of Season 5. I will be taking a publishing break until the end of March, as I conduct some more interviews. Before I introduce today’s guest, I have some news. I am very pleased to announce that a collection of my PFAS interviews is now available as an oral history collection in the QLD State Library. I will put a link to that collection in the show notes. Today’s guest is the second last guest from the 2022 International Clean Up Conference posted by CRC Care, held in Adelaide, South Australia. I have one more interview from Germany and that will go up in the break. My guest today is Dr Scott Coffin, a Research Scientist, with the California State Water Resources Control Board. This is the Agency in California that governs the drinking water and all other water resources. What I think was significant about this discussion with Scott was that from his position working for the California State Water Resources Control Board he was willing to share openly about PFAS and California’s water issues. Here is a little of what he said: “So California has a legal mandate to ensure all of the data that we collect on the environment is transparent and accessible to the public. It is a law since 2015, the Open Water Data Act and this means that any consumer in California, or anyone living in California, can find out what is in their drinking water, if they have PFAS monitored, even if it is unregulated which it often is they can find that information.” (Dr Scott Coffin) Since commencing this podcast in 2018 I have not found that same level of openness or willingness in Australia from water providers to talk about PFAS. I believe it is time that the Australian water providers, those people tasked with providing safe drinking water to the public, actually become more transparent about what is in the public’s water. And in particular advise whether PFAS or other contaminants are present. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and a very big thank you for listening. If you enjoy the Talking PFAS podcast I encourage you to please share with colleagues, friends, associates and get the word out about this podcast. I love receiving the emails from listeners telling me how much you enjoy the podcast. LINKS mentioned in today’s podcast episode: Collection of PFAS Interviews as Oral history QLD State Library – by Kayleen Bell, journalist https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay/alma99183795520502061/61SLQ_INST:SLQ Dr Scott Coffin Research Scientist III (Chemical Sciences) Microplastics Monitoring Subcommittee Co-Chair Division of Drinking Water. https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/ The paper that my guest Dr Scott Coffin mentioned about machine learning and PFAS – titled “A machine learning approach for prioritising groundwater testing for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).” Science Direct Journal of Environmental Management Volume 295, 1 October 2021. Sarabeth George & Atray Dixit. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479721014213?via%3Dihub Copyright: All information in this podcast is copyright. Please do share the podcast episode in its entirety with full attribution on websites, social media or email. Permission must be sought from the rights holder at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com for the content of this episode to by used or published in any written, audio or video content.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →
Ep 40 (PFAS in Australia) Dr Mark Bowman GHD- At Clean-Up Conference 2022, Adelaide, South Australia
Dec 30, 202200:27:40Tap to summarizeWelcome back to Talking PFAS podcast. I am a journalist and your host Kayleen Bell. Please note I am having some technical challenges with some podcast players not updating to my latest episode, especially Apple Podcasts and Spotify, which I am in the process of fixing. I apologise for any inconvenience. But you can always find the latest episode on my podcast host Omny Studio, and Podlink, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Podlink and Google podcasts. If you enjoy this podcast please share to encourage more listeners to find this podcast. This is the finale for Season 5 of Talking PFAS. I will be releasing two more episodes from international speakers from Clean-Up Conference 2022 in January, one speaker from California (up next) and one from Germany. This will complete the series of interviews I recorded at Clean-Up Conference (2022). My guest today is Dr Mark Bowman, who is a Technical Director working for GHD based in Sydney, Australia. He has worked on PFAS since 2005 helping to assess, clean-up and manage risks associated with their use. Dr Bowman is widely published on PFAS management, and he also presented a session at the 2022 Clean-Up Conference on emerging contaminants, including PFAS. PFAS is a key focus for the team at GHD and Dr Bowman said their team had a strong presence at the Clean-Up Conference with up to 18 people attending including five from their Americas teams who are some of the leading people in North America dealing with PFAS and emerging contaminants. Dr Bowman said “GHD is championing PFAS response for clients in the Asia Pacific, Americas and Europe-Middle East. The company has industry leading PFAS response capabilities and is the most experienced and trusted team working to protect people and the environment from PFAS.” He also states: “GHD is successfully delivering PFAS contaminated site assessment, soil-water-sediment remediation, human health and ecological risk assessments, statutory audits, monitoring and strategic program management. GHD also assists clients transition away from PFAS including advising on replacements and performing decontamination of plant and infrastructure.” In today’s episode Dr Bowman says a key take-away is this message, “it is fine to use a chemical that has been approved for commercial use but we need to ensure that unlike some of the challenges with PFAS where they have been dispersively released and haven’t controlled how we have used those chemicals that has been a key take-away. We need to really not let those chemicals out into the environment in the first place. It often doesn’t matter what the chemical is. We don’t want it in our drinking water. We don’t want them in our food. We want to have safe, breathable air. We want to have safe drinking water and it is best to ensure that we are not releasing chemicals into areas that we are using for food and water.” GHD Website https://www.ghd.com/en/pfas.aspx Please note: I am an independent journalist and a podcaster no money was received for today’s interview. If, in the future money is received from remediation companies (as sponsorship) to support the continuation of this podcast, I will disclose this. Also any discussions with remediation companies is for information purposes, I am not endorsing any product or remediation method over another. Copyright: Please share the episode (in whole) with acknowledgement via social media or website, but anyone wishing to edit, alter, or republish any information from this podcast in another form is subject to copyright and must contact the rights holder at TalkingPFAS@gmail.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcribe →