MADISON – Senator Eric Wimberger (R-Gillett) released the following statement after two new grant programs for PFAS relief – the PFAS Community Grants Sampling Program and the Wisconsin PFAS Private Well Testing Program – were launched under 2025 Wisconsin Acts 200 and 201, legislation he authored this session to provide comprehensive PFAS relief to communities across Wisconsin:
“I have been proud to fight for PFAS relief on behalf of victims over the last few years,” Senator Wimberger said. “The launch of these grant programs today is a major step in turning the $133 million in the PFAS Trust Fund into real relief from these ‘forever chemicals.’ The people of Wisconsin deserve access to clean drinking water, and these programs will help communities test for and identify toxic pollutants in their wells and public water systems for remediation and removal.”
Senator Wimberger has spent the last two legislative sessions championing comprehensive PFAS relief in the Legislature. In the 2023-24 legislative session, the Senator authored a bill to provide new grant programs and regulatory reform, funded with $125 million included in the state budget, to protect pollution victims. While this bill passed the full Legislature, Governor Evers vetoed it in its entirety, denying PFAS victims the assistance and regulatory protections they desperately needed, because he refused to curb the power of Madison bureaucrats.
This session, Governor Evers changed his mind and embraced many of the victim protections he previously opposed and used to justify his veto of the original relief legislation.
“Following an unnecessary two-year delay due to Governor Evers’ veto of necessary liability reform, Wisconsinites who did nothing wrong can be confident they won’t be declared responsible parties for PFAS contamination when they seek help,” Senator Wimberger concluded.
The new PFAS Community Grants Sampling Program and the Wisconsin PFAS Private Well Testing Program will provide communities with funding to test for PFAS in public water treatment plants and private wells. These programs are funded with $133 million from the PFAS Trust Fund, which was included in the 2023-25 budget.
