"Forever Chemicals" Environmental, Economic, and Social Equity Concerns with PFAS with Authors LeeAnn Racz and David Kempisty.
Forever Chemicals known as PFAS, are a class of man-made per-and polyfluroalkyl substances that persist in the environment and don’t break down. PFAS chemicals have been around for over 70 years and have been unregulated by the EPA for decades. Authors LeeAnn Racz and David Kempisty document in this book, "Forever Chemicals" Environmental, Economic, and Social Equity Concerns with PFAS in the Environment, the challenges with analytical testing, risk assessments, regulatory implications, consumer products containing PFAS, waste disposal, remediation concerns, and more. Check out this informative episode.
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LeeAnn Racz
Author, Senior Engineer
LeeAnn Racz is a Senior Engineer at ToxStrategies, Inc. She has also been the President and Founder of ClearView Environmental Engineering and Consulting, LLC, providing environmental and occupational health services to clients around the world. Prior to this initiative, she served for 23 years as a bioenvironmental engineer and civil engineer in the US Air Force. Some highlights of Dr. Racz’s military assignments include squadron commander, chief of consultative services at the US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, director of the Graduate Environmental Engineering and Science Program at the Air Force Institute of Technology. Dr. Racz is a licensed professional engineer, certified industrial hygienist, and board-certified environmental engineer.
She earned a BS in environmental engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, an MS in biological and agricultural engineering from the University of Idaho, and a PhD in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Utah. She has authored dozens of refereed journal articles, conference proceedings, magazine articles, and presentations, and edited six handbooks. Dr. Racz is a member of several professional organizations and honor societies and has received numerous prestigious teaching and research awards.
David Kempisty
Author / PhD / PE
Dave is a licensed engineer focusing on today’s pressing environmental issues. He is the founder of “Viridi Environmental”, a consulting firm providing insight into emerging contaminant solutions and waste-to-energy technologies. Dave has worked in the water treatment industry using conventional and novel technologies for the removal of contaminants like PFAS, 1,4 dioxane and carcinogenic volatile organics from industrial and municipal waters. Before this, he spent 22 years in the United States Air Force as an environmental engineer, occupational health consultant and assistant professor. As editor to two books on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and author to over 20 peer-reviewed papers and presentations on a variety of environmental topics, Dave provides a well-balanced perspective on today’s environmental issues. Dave earned his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He holds a Master of Science from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science from Michigan Technological University.
