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Vancouver council: EPA PFAS rulemaking paused; council approves item on drinking-water response
Summary
The Vancouver City Council discussed federal PFAS rulemaking and Washington standards for PFAS in drinking water, heard public concern about long-term contamination, and approved a council item directing work on local PFAS projects and grant applications.
The Vancouver City Council on March 3, 2025 discussed recent federal rulemaking on PFAS and approved a council item directing continued local work on drinking-water responses and grant applications.
Councilor Stober said the federal rulemaking is not rescinded but “paused” in the process and that the city will continue pursuing state and federal grants and low-interest loans to address PFAS in local water supplies. “My understanding on that, Councillor Stober, is that they haven't rescinded it, but they have paused it in the rule making process,” Stober said.
The discussion followed public comment from Kimberly Goheen Elbon, who said she was born in Vancouver and urged the council to explain where public funds have gone to address what she described as long-standing contamination. “Vancouver water has been toxic for over 12 years,” Elbon said during public comment, urging more public education and cleanup.
Council members and staff emphasized the city has its own Washington-state drinking-water standards related to PFAS and that the city has applied for grants and low-interest loans for initial projects. A city staff member said the city acknowledges PFAS is a problem and that, absent action by manufacturers, the city must filter water to provide safe drinking water to residents. Councilor Fox added that the city maintains a web page with the full history and raw sampling data for the community to review. “We actually have an entire page on our website dedicated to PFAS. It talks about the history of when we started sampling and actually has all of the raw data from our sampling results from all the wells around the community,” Fox said.
After the discussion Councilor Stober moved to pass item number 3, which the council approved on a voice vote. The motion text in the meeting packet was not read aloud during the hearing; transcript records the motion as “passage of item number 3.” The transcript does not record a roll-call tally for the vote.
The council’s actions as reflected in the meeting leave the city continuing technical work, grant applications and projects aimed at PFAS mitigation while federal rulemaking remains paused.
City staff and the council did not provide an estimate of the number of residents affected or a consolidated budget for the work during the meeting; those details were described as part of ongoing project planning and grant applications.
