Senate Bill Promotes Soybean-Based Firefighting Foam to Replace PFAS

Soybeans. Photo by David E Mead, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Make no beans about it.

Wisconsin lawmakers want to provide fire departments access to grants for a new type of firefighting foam derived from soybeans that could pose an alternative to PFAS-based foams.

The Wisconsin Senate recently passed a bill that would make soybean-based firefighting foams eligible for grants under a program that provides up to 50 percent of the cost for supplies, equipment and training to fight forest fires.

The bill introduced by Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, would help fire departments foot the bill for transitioning to the alternative. Marklein said in a recent public hearing that around 20 fire departments in Wisconsin are using the soybean-based foam.

“This is good for farmers, good for our fire departments and good for the environment,” Marklein said.

The push comes as research shows exposure to PFAS in firefighting foam poses a risk of cancer in firefighters. A study of nearly 30,000 firefighters found they had a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14 percent higher risk of dying from the disease, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of thousands of synthetic chemicals that have been linked to serious health risks that include kidney and testicular cancer. The so-called forever chemicals don’t break down easily in the environment.

In Wisconsin, PFAS contamination of private and public wells in the town of Campbell and city of Eau Claire has been tied to the use of firefighting foam at nearby municipal airports.

Dave Garlie, chief technology officer of Cross Plains Solutions, has developed and tested SoyFoam from soybean meal, supported by funding from the United Soybean Board. The money comes from a program of the United Soybean Board that devotes a half-percent of the market price of every bushel of soybeans sold each year to research.

Garlie told lawmakers that soy-based firefighting foams were widely used before PFAS foams were developed during the 1960s. In the last two years, Garlie has been testing their soybean-derived foam at Chippewa Valley Technical College, saying it’s been successful at extinguishing jet fuel and gasoline fires. Not only that, he said, it’s also biodegradable.

“What we strived to do through chemistry was to really build out performance for the firefighters, but also in parallel make sure they’re not introducing another hazardous component” into the environment, Garlie said.

Garlie acknowledged his company is still in the process of certifying SoyFoam in coordination with federal agencies. Supporters note that fire departments around the state are abandoning PFAS-based foams amid concerns over its harms to human health and the environment.

Chris Turner, a fire instructor at Chippewa Valley Technical College, told lawmakers that shifting away from PFAS foams has them relying on water, which decreases their ability to fight fires and increases workloads and property damage.

“When manufacturers instead take the approach of using bio-based materials like soy and other constituent elements, there is, in my opinion, a far lesser chance of that being harmful to the environment, to myself, to my firefighters, or to my family,” Turner said.

And farmers hope it may further provide another source of revenue at a time when the nation’s farmers have lost billions of dollars in soybean sales as Chinese buyers have turned elsewhere amid trade disputes between the U.S. and China. Doug Rebout, president of the Wisconsin Soybean Association, said the measure wouldn’t replace the Chinese market — but he urged lawmakers to support the bill.

“Every little bit we can do here domestically can help us so we’re not so reliant on foreign markets,” Rebout said.

The bill has yet to be taken up by the Wisconsin Assembly.

Listen to the WPR report

Wisconsin bill promotes soybean-based firefighting foam to replace PFAS was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.