PARKERSBURG — Ohio and West Virginia senators voted for the National Defense Authorization Act on Monday that includes a provision to allow the Department of Defense to pay for the clean-up of a contaminated water well for the city of Martinsburg and restores the penalties and sanctions President Trump removed on the Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.
The act passed the Senate on a 85-10 vote with Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman of Ohio in favor. Capito worked with the Senate Armed Services Committee to include the language in the bill to make it possible for the Defense Department to reimburse Martinsburg for its expenses.
The U.S. Air Force in March 2017 “paused” a $10 million allocation to Martinsburg where an activated carbon filtration system was being installed on the contaminated Big Springs water well near the Shepherd Air National Guard Base.
The Big Springs well is contaminated with PFOS and PFOA, or C8, used in manufacturing processes around the world, fire fighting foams and equipment and once used to make Teflon at the Washington Works in Wood County. The Environmental Protection Agency two years ago lowered the long-term exposure levels for C8 and the well was closed.
A science panel created by the original C8 lawsuit against DuPont in Wood County analyzed the health data from 70,000 residents of the Mid-Ohio Valley and found a probable link between C8 and six diseases in humans.
“I have worked with the EPA, the (Defense Department) and Martinsburg officials to make sure that they are reimbursed for costs related to clean up after PFOA was detected in the water supply and I am glad it was included in the (bill,)” Manchin said.
The legislation also reverses an announcement made by the Trump White House that would let ZTE to continue buying parts from U.S. companies. ZTE was accused of selling technologies to Iran and North Korea and Iran.
The House version of the defense bill does not include the ZTE language.