CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The federal government said it soon will begin taking steps to study and restrict the use of so-called "forever" chemicals called Perfluorinated and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acids (PFOAs).

The chemicals have been found in drinking-water systems in the Ohio Valley and eastern panhandle. In a recently released roadmap, the Biden administration said it will for the first time require industries producing the chemicals to provide the government with toxicity data.

Betsy Southerland, former director of the EPA's Office of Science and Technology and a volunteer member of the Environmental Protection Network, said the plan is a critical first step toward protecting public health.

She explained the agency is also expected to propose a drinking-water standard for the two most frequently occurring PFAS chemicals.

"That will be really important to all the drinking-water systems in the country," Southerland contended.

West Virginia communities are desperate for action to prevent their exposure to the toxic chemicals, which have been linked to a host of negative health effects, including cancer.

One 2019 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found residents of Martinsburg had elevated levels of PFAS in their blood compared with national averages.

The agency also said it will begin working on a new rule slated for proposal next fall to set the stage for considering PFOAs and PFAS as hazardous substances.

Sutherland argued the designation will subsequently hold companies accountable.

"Which in turn means that any party responsible for contaminating with a hazardous substance will have to pay to clean it up," Sutherland stressed.

Southerland added beyond drinking water, consumers can be exposed to PFAS in numerous ways in daily life, highlighting the need for stricter regulations.

"It's in our cosmetics, it's in our food packaging, it's in our cookware, it's everywhere," Southerland observed. "You can't just say, 'Oh, wow, I'm really upset. My drinking water is contaminated.' That's probably the least of your worries."

She emphasized exposure to PFAS even reaches the uterus. One 2016 study published in the journal Environmental Health detected PFAS in more than 90% of nearly 2,000 cord blood samples collected from pregnant women.

The U.S. military and a nonprofit environmental group are seeing success in a partnership that strengthens military readiness and conserves Indiana's natural resources.

Some military installations have compatible land uses around them, such as farms and forests, wetlands and grasslands. Sentinel Landscape, a federal initiative managed in part by the Department of Defense, works with nonprofits to manage those lands.

Emy Brawley, Midwest Region vice president at the Conservation Fund, said southern Indiana received a Sentinel Landscape designation in 2022, allowing her organization to work with bases across the region.

"That designation is supporting four Department of Defense installations, including the Lake Glendora test facility," she said. "All four of those installations provide a wide number of testing and training opportunities for multiple branches of our military."

Brawley said it's important to protect lands around military sites from encroachments that impact the military's ability to maintain mission readiness. She added that commercial developments near military bases can cause noise or light pollution that restricts training and testing drills.

Brawley's organization works in the new Busseron Creek Fish and Wildlife Area, the largest conservation project in Indiana in 20 years. The site serves as a buffer of undeveloped land near the Lake Glendora Test Facility, a military base.

Brawley said the area's natural resources are critical for certain species of wildlife in Indiana.

"This new Fish and Wildlife Area protects a five-mile segment of Busseron Creek, along with forests and wetlands and grasslands and streams and lakes," she said. "In fact, a nearby Fish and Wildlife Area documented over 250 different bird species using it."

Brawley said protecting the land in the new fish and wildlife area will make it more functional as a training and testing site. It also allows for public access and recreational activities such as fishing, hunting and camping.

West Virginia communities will see increased air pollution with little oversight under a new Trump administration proposal offering presidential exemptions from the Clean Air Act's requirements for hazardous air pollutants.

Sarah Vogel, senior vice president of healthy communities for the Environmental Defense Fund, said the move could affect more than 200 facilities, including 10 in the Mountain State, emitting toxic chemicals such as ethylene oxide and benzene.

"These are well-defined, highly hazardous chemicals, many cancer-causing compounds coming from a number of different industries, including the chemical and petrochemical industry," Vogel outlined.

A new analysis from the Environmental Defense Fund found more than 500 facilities across the U.S. eligible for pollution exemptions. Most are petrochemical manufacturing plants and coal-fired power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency has not made the requests for exemptions publicly available.

Vogel emphasized children and families who have no choice but to breathe the toxic air where they live will suffer the most.

"We're seeing this administration signal to companies that they can just continue to pollute in the name of either a so-called energy emergency or a national security issue," Vogel added.

Nearly 10,000 West Virginia children per year will suffer asthma attacks because of ozone from the oil and gas industry, and in 28 counties residents face higher cancer risks, according to the Clean Air Task Force.

The decades-long decline of Pennsylvania's coal industry could shift in another direction after a series of executive orders by President Donald Trump - although current market trends indicate it's unlikely.

Coal-fired power plants made up just over 16% of U.S. electricity in 2023. That's half what it was a decade ago.

Tom Schuster, director of the Sierra Club of Pennsylvania, said the coal industry is in irreversible decline that executive orders most likely can't change.

He said it's been outpaced by renewable energy, which has now surpassed coal in electricity generation over a 12 month period.

"Unfortunately," said Schuster, "what this order could do is expose people to higher electricity costs by keeping unprofitable plants online longer, and also jeopardize people's health by exempting them from environmental regulations."

The orders direct agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to ease restrictions on coal, which the president suggests could help meet rising energy demands of manufacturing and AI data centers.

Schuster said these actions are part of broader deregulation, and that Pennsylvanians know the risks of unchecked coal use.

He said in today's market, relying on coal to meet power demands is no longer viable.

One executive order claims mining and burning coal will bring back good-paying jobs, but Schuster said that's unlikely.

He pointed out that coal generated about half of Pennsylvania's electricity 15 years ago, but now makes up only 10% - and he said reopening retired plants isn't economical.

"There's only two conventional coal-fired power plants left in Pennsylvania," said Schuster. "There's a handful of smaller specialty plants that burn coal refuse, but it's a relatively small part of our energy generation today, so I don't think the economic impact in terms of coal-fired generation is going to be that much."

An executive order also aims to boost coal exports. Pennsylvania exports a fair amount of its coal, mainly to China - but the trade war and retaliatory tariffs could stymie that effort.