Melanie Benesh

She/her/hers
Vice President, Government Affairs

Melanie Benesh provides legislative and regulatory analysis of federal food, cosmetics, farm and chemical law. At Georgetown University Law Center, she was a Cutler Salzburg Fellow and served on the Georgetown Journal of International Law. After college, Benesh worked as a research assistant studying fair trade coffee in Chiapas, Mexico, and later as a community organizer for Voces de la Frontera in Milwaukee. She currently co-teaches a course on public interest advocacy as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

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External Publications

In The News

The administration should be extending the ban to commercial uses and is catering to the wishes of the chemical industry.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
CNN

We are really trying to get the full scope of the problem, and it seems like the Pentagon has that data. The results also would be of interest to ordinary people and communities that are worried about water contamination but may not have lawyers able to wrangle with the Pentagon and certainly don't have the money to pay for this kind of information.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
Associated Press

The Trump administration will be partly to blame when the next worker is injured or dies as a result of being exposed to this extremely dangerous chemical. The EPA was catering to the wishes of the chemical industry.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
Associated Press

This new rule makes it more difficult for industry to resume some abandoned uses of asbestos, but that is a half step at best. An outright ban is the only way the public can trust industry will never again be able to use this dangerous material that has literally killed tens of thousands of Americans.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
The Hill

If EPA is serious about protecting Americans from asbestos exposure, EPA should quickly release its full risk assessment under [the Toxic Substances Control Act] and issue a total ban on all uses of asbestos. That is the only way to ensure this deadly carcinogen can never be allowed on the market again.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
The Washington Post

While today’s regulatory determination is an important first step in finally getting PFOA and PFOS out of drinking water, affected communities should not have to wait any longer for relief.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
MLive

The sad reality is that PFAS chemicals are all around us.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
NBC Connecticut

It’s not an ‘either or’ issue. We certainly have to think about ways to remediate, ways to get PFAS out of the environment. But we also can’t keep adding to all the pollution that’s already out there.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
Waste Dive

This is a multi-administration failure to take action on PFOA and PFOS and on the broader class of PFAS chemicals that may pose health effects.

Person Mentioned
Melanie Benesh
Chemical & Engineering News