Washington, DC – CHIPS Communities United, the Center for Public Environmental Oversight (CPEO), and other community-based organizations raised concerns over toxic PFAS releases allowed under a draft wastewater permit renewal for chip-maker Analog Devices. The draft permit allows Analog Devices, a large semiconductor manufacturer in Camas, Washington, to release PFAS, also known as toxic “forever chemicals,” into the local sewage system and, from there, into the Columbia River. In response to a call for public comment, the groups sent a letter to the Department of Ecology recommending increased monitoring and stricter limits on PFAS to protect public health and downstream communities.
“We call on the Washington Department of Ecology to protect the Columbia River,” urged Judith Barish, Coalition Director of CHIPS Communities United. “The Columbia is a critical source of drinking water; host to Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye salmon runs; home to Indigenous nations; and the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest. PFAS contamination already threatens this vital tributary: we must stop future toxic effluent from the semiconductor industry.”
Semiconductor manufacturing is known to use and discharge the toxic chemical family of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are highly persistent and mobile in the environment, easily traveling through streams, rivers, and other water bodies, including drinking water sources. Because they break down very slowly, PFAS tend to bioaccumulate in human beings, wildlife, and the environment. PFAS are highly toxic and linked to serious health problems.
“The renewed permit does not establish discharge limits for PFAS, nor does it require their destruction,” said Lenny Siegel, Executive Director of the Center for Public Environment Oversight. “It only requires monitoring for 40 PFAS compounds, while the semiconductor industry uses hundreds of PFAS that will ultimately end up in biosolids, the river, or the atmosphere.”
The testing method prescribed in the draft permit (EPA Method 1633/1633A) is inadequate for detecting the full range of PFAS in Analog Devices’ wastewaters. Studies conducted at Cornell University (2021 and 2023) and Nankai University in China found that wastewater from semiconductor factories is brimming with hundreds of PFAS compounds, with over 90% likely to be missed by conventional analyses such as EPA Method 1633.
Publicly owned treatment works lack the resources, technology, and capacity to destroy PFAS chemicals, so the PFAS that enters the sewage facility is likely to end up in rivers, drinking water, and farmland. But under federal and state laws, environmental state agencies have the authority to place limits on the PFAS in industrial effluent. In the absence of federal action, Washington State’s Department of Ecology must step up to protect surrounding communities and ecosystems.
“We urge the Department of Ecology to strengthen PFAS monitoring, treatment, and minimization requirements to reduce further contamination of the Columbia River and protect public health,” said Julie MacNamara, the National Water Projects Coordinator for Clean Water Action. “There is no known safe level of these persistent chemicals; we don’t want them in our waters.”
“PFAS is a huge problem in our region,” said Carmelita Perrien Naccarato, an organizer with Climate Jobs PDX. “The city of Camas already has PFAS in its drinking water at ten times the EPA’s action level. Fish in the river are so contaminated with PFAS that the state of Oregon has had a standing health advisory since 2022, warning people to limit their consumption of fish from the Columbia Slough.”
The Department of Ecology should amend the draft permit renewal to:
- Significantly expand requirements to monitor, identify, quantify, and characterize all PFAS discharged by Analog Devices.
- Increase the universe of PFAS being monitored and regulated, not just a small subset.
- Establish a goal of complete elimination of PFAS discharges.
- Require the use of treatment technologies that destroy PFAS, rather than simply filter PFAS.
- Require greater transparency and ensure that all reported data is made publicly available online within 30 days of collection.
For the full list of recommendations submitted by CHIPS Communities United, Center for Public Environmental Oversight, Bend the Curve, Clean Water Action, Climate Jobs PDX, the National PFAS Contamination Coalition, Oregon Working Families Party, and Washington County Citizen Action Network, click here.
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