Our guest tonight is Dr. Michael S. Wong, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He is also professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Materials Science and NanoEngineering. He was educated and trained at Caltech, MIT, and UCSB before arriving at Rice in 2001. His research program broadly addresses chemical engineering problems using the tools of materials chemistry, with a particular interest in energy and environmental applications ("catalysis for clean water"). He has received numerous honors, including the MIT TR35 Young Innovator Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Young Investigator Award, Smithsonian Magazine Young Innovator Award, and the North American Catalysis Society/Southwest Catalysis Society Excellence in Applied Catalysis Award. He is research thrust leader on multifunctional nanomaterials in the NSF-funded NEWT (Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment) Engineering Research Center. He is chair of the ACS Division of Catalysis Science and Technology (CATL), and serves on the Applied Catalysis B: Environmental editorial board. Previous experiences include chairmanship of the AIChE Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum and Chemistry of Materials editorial board membership.

The focus of this podcast is recent work led by Dr. Youngkun Chung, one of Dr. Wong's postdoctoral research associates, which describes a new approach to filtering PFAS from water at 1,000 times the efficiency of methods such as activated carbon. Better still, the captured PFAS can be removed from this new filter medium in a process that renders it safe, and the medium ready for reuse.

Topics covered include:

• Description of PFAS chemicals are
• How they get into the environment
• Limitations of existing filtration approaches
• Details of the new technology
• How Dr. Wong's team at Rice University collaborate to develop technlogies that use chemical engineering to make our environment cleaner.

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Our guest tonight is Bernadette Del Chiaro, Senior Vice President at the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit working to empower people with breakthrough research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment.

Bernadette leads EWG’s California operations, building the organization at the state level to continue its groundbreaking work on advancing critical environmental and public health priorities, through innovative policies, enhanced transparency and improved accountability of government agencies.

Del Chiaro has 30 years of experience building non-profit organizations focused on the goals of clean energy and a healthier environment. Most recently, she served as the executive director of the California Solar and Storage Association. Under her leadership, it became the nation’s largest clean energy business association focused on consumer-facing solar energy solutions.

Prior to that, she worked for nearly two decades for environmental non-profit organizations, including Environment California, where she championed the Million Solar Roofs Initiative, and the Toxics Action Center, where she helped neighborhood groups fight for their right to a clean environment.

Del Chiaro has authored several reports on a variety of energy topics and has been widely quoted in many national, international and local media outlets.

In tonight's episode we discuss the following:

• Despite the known negative health effects of "forever chemicals" known as PFAS, they are still legally used as pesticides on food grown throughout the United States, with a few exceptions, such as in Maine.
• In a March 2026 EWG study involving 930 samples of non-organic California-grown produce, 37% were found to be contaminated with PFAS-based pesticides.
• EWG is supporting legislation such as AB 1603, which would ban the use of PFAS-based pesticides in California by 2035.
• In the meantime, EWG recommends continuing to consume produce, favoring organic produce when feasible, and using proper washing techniques.
• Risks associated with PFAS exposure can be further reduced by favoring produce on EWG's "Clean Fifteen" list, and avoiding the "Dirty Dozen".

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Our guest tonight is Lew Daly, Senior Fellow for Climate and Energy Policy at Just Solutions, where he works in partnership with state and federal organizations and networks in pursuit of a just and equitable clean energy transition.

His previous 15 years work in the public policy field includes appointments such as:

• Director of Policy and Research and Senior Policy Analyst for Climate Equity at Demos
• Deputy Director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute

Lew is a lifelong resident of New York State--Born and raised in Onondaga County, Central New York State, and has been based with his family in Wester Harlem, New York City, since 1999. His New York service in the field includes:

• Steering Committee member of the New York Renews Coalition from 2017-2020.
• Co-coordinator: New York Renews Policy Development Committee, supporting the development and passage of the nation-leading Climate Leadership and Community Protection act in 2019.
• Member of the New York City Offshore Wind Advisory Council in 2022 and 2023.

He has also worked internationally as a US member of the Global Well-Being Lab of the Presencing Institute and Germany's Global Leadership Academy, and as an International Advisory Board Member of the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation at the University of Pretoria.

With Doug Koplow of Earth Track, Lew is the author most recently of the report, Taxpayer Costs for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage, just out from Just Solutions and Earth Track.

In addition to his extensive policy work, Lew's commentaries and feature articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Republic, Democracy Journal, Boston Review, Grist, and many other publications.

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Visit us at climatemoneywatchdog.org!