Republicans in the state Senate advanced a bill Wednesday to restrict the use of firefighting foam containing certain PFAS compounds but rejected a Democratic proposal to expand regulation of the synthetic chemicals that have been found in drinking water throughout the state.
The Senate’s GOP-led natural resources committee voted 3-2 along party lines to approve the bill, authored by Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, that limits where firefighters and others could test or train with foams containing highly fluorinated compounds.
It would allow the use of such foam only in emergency fire response or in testing areas that the Department of Natural Resources determines have “appropriate containment, treatment, and disposal measures.”