"Forever chemicals are a problem everywhere," said US Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, calling out the US Department of Defense. The DoD is trying to end the moratorium on burning forever chemicals or PFAS at the Heritage Thermal Services facility in East Liverpool.

"We've got to pay attention as a country to these kind of pollutants that cause, we think can cause cancer long-term for people," Brown said during a stop in Lordstown Friday.

The DoD had been burning its leftover stockpiles of almost a million gallons of firefighting foam called AFFF or aqueous film forming foam at the East Liverpool facility. Just last year, the DoD and Heritage reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club and local group Save Our County, among others.
The lawyer representing Save Our County told 21 News that restarting the incineration of these materials would be "a catastrophically bad idea".

"This is an environmental justice community where you have people living 400 feet from the smokestacks," said attorney Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz with Earth Justice. "This is as close to the surrounding residents as you'll ever see around an incinerator, and they have received up to a third of the nation's total PFAS that have been incinerated over the past five years."

Katz cited numerous examples of violations the company committed during its operation in East Liverpool over the years.
Friday afternoon, the company pushed back. It said in a statement:

"Heritage Thermal Services ("HTS") appreciates Sen. Sherrod Brown's concerns regarding the management of PFAS-containing waste.

This is a complex topic and various agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are driving scientific and fact-based ways of addressing it.

HTS is at the forefront of addressing environmental concerns caused by emerging contaminants such as PFAS through the effective treatment of such materials and continues to be involved in research and development activities evaluating emerging technologies directed at effective PFAS treatment, aligned to our mission of protecting human health and the environment for current and future generations.

The East Liverpool operations are subject to the most stringent environmental regulations and undergo periodic testing requirements to be able to operate and consistently meet or exceed the required testing parameters necessary to maintain its operating permit.

Moreover, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recognized incineration as among the options available for the safe management of PFAS-containing materials."

So far, there's no word on a timeline for the facility to potentially resume incinerating PFAS.