Newsletter

ILTA is excited to be moving forward with a newly improved safety survey and awards program. Set to launch in mid-December, the new safety survey will bring added depth and better benchmarking to our safety program.   

A working group made up of a subset of our Health and Safety Committee has been reviewing and remodeling the program since March 2022.  The working group has delivered a product focused on leading indicators to complement the reliance on lagging indicators such as the total recordable incident rate (TRIR).  Led by Chair Shannon Caldwell of Zenith Energy, the group created twenty questions that identify key components of an effective safety program.   

The Defense Department’s (DOD) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) held its annual conference a Nov. 29-Dec. 2 annual conference including sessions on the development and use of PFAS-free firefighting foam. The program included panel discussions on DOD efforts to phase out the use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) containing PFAS by fiscal year 2025, as required by the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

According to the conference program, the presentation provided details on the mechanism of PFAS-free alternatives for firefighting, including research on recently developed novel surfactants at the laboratory scale. Those PFAS-free substitutes could also help DOD against longstanding complaints by state environmental regulators and communities near military bases about PFAS drinking water contamination from decades of AFFF use. Those complaints include landmark litigation being overseen by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in which chemical industry defendants have accused DOD of continuing to use PFAS-containing AFFF even after it knew about potential health risks.

The House is expected to vote in the coming days on defense authorization legislation that will include some PFAS provisions. North Carolina’s Science Advisory Board is scheduled to provide advice on developing a human health reference dose for the emerging PFAS known as PFMOAA and water quality aquatic life criteria for two better-known PFAS.

The House is expected to take up a compromise version of the fiscal year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) following negotiations to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation. The compromise bill could be filed as soon as Dec. 5, according to staff, with the House Rules Committee scheduled to consider the bill along with other legislation at a Dec. 5 meeting. The compromise bill is likely to contain non-controversial provisions related to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) originally included in the Senate version, such as the creation of a publicly accessible database of Pentagon research on the health effects from PFAS exposure, the development of alternatives to PFAS-containing firefighting foams used by the military, and the transfer $20 million from the Defense Department (DOD) to the Department of Health and Human Services for ongoing nationwide monitoring of PFAS exposures and risks in communities near military bases.

With urging by the President, Congress moved to approve a measure to avert a potential rail strike that would have had almost certainly had severe negative impacts on the U.S. economy. By a bipartisan vote of 290 to 137, the House approved the measure, HJR 100, and sent it to the Senate. The Senate took up the measure with a 80-15 vote to approve on December 1. President Biden signed the measure into law on December 2.

ILTA is thrilled to announce our opening keynote for the 2023 Annual Operating Conference and Trade Show in Houston May 22-24, 2023: Generation Z expert and acclaimed generations researcher Jason Dorsey shares new insights and groundbreaking research about Gen Z on national TV. Jason is President of The Center for Generational Kinetics, the leading Gen Z and generations research, speaking, and consulting firm. Jason has worked with over 700 clients around the world, including every major industry.