When the full body convenes on Wednesday, the House will consider a number of bills that address environmental issues. Here are some of these key issues they will be voting on.
PFAS
After being rejected by the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee and passed, Wednesday’s vote will be on whether to ban the sale or distribution of products containing polyfluoroalkyl forever chemicals. According to the report of the Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee, the panel recommended that further research be done on the matter because there are so many items made with PFAS. Representative Bill Boyd, Merrimack Republican, introduced House Bill 1589 to stop chemical pollution at its source.
Another bill deals with the issue of PFAS found in soil. House Bill 1547 would also make a polluter responsible of providing safe water to an individual who has contaminated well water. The Environment and Agriculture Committee unanimously recommended the bill be passed.
Landfills
House Bill 1420 would prevent the statefrom issuing new landfill permits until its solid waste plan is updated. New Hampshire law states that the state must update its solid-waste plan every six year. The current plan was created in 2003, and it was updated in 2009. The bill is poised for passage without any debate on Wednesday’s consent calendar, thanks to unanimous support from the committee.
House Bill 1049 was a collection of proposals from the House Environment and Agriculture Committee on landfill sitting. The study committee would examine the criteria for locating landfills and how to reduce landfill capacity.
Water quality
Legislators want schools to notify parents when high levels are found in school water. House Bill 1421 would make this change.
House Bill 1452 also looked at how to address water quality in private wells. It authorized the department to inspect wells and take samples. According to the department, a name change would cost more than half a million dollars. The committee did no recommend moving the bill but unanimously agreed to continue studying it.
This story was originally published inNew Hampshire Bulletin.
