The Southeastern PFAS Caucus, announced this week, brings together lawmakers from both parties to push for resources to help local governments filter the so-called forever chemicals from drinking water. PFAS compounds can persist in the environment for decades and have been linked to serious health problems.

Fuller, a Republican who won a runoff in April to fill the 14th Congressional District seat vacated by Marjorie Taylor Greene, said upgrading a municipal water system to remove PFAS can cost upward of $100 million — a burden many smaller cities and counties cannot absorb on their own.

"The number one issue is funding for these local communities that have been impacted — to make sure they have the resources to solve it," Fuller said. "Because the technology is there."

Fuller described the contamination problem as deeply personal. He said he grew up in a northwest Georgia community where residents were exposed to toxic chemicals, and that he has experienced health effects he attributes to that exposure. He said the issue is not abstract for the people he represents.

"When you're talking to constituents who are facing this, it's just like the problems of people in any community beyond the ground," he said. "It's an important issue that gets to the heart of what public service is about."

The caucus includes Republican Reps. Laurel Lee and Harris of Florida, Shawn Ross of Oklahoma, and Democratic Reps. Deborah Ross of North Carolina and April Brian of Florida, among others.

Fuller said he hopes the new group can secure funding in the minority party's legislative priorities and advance the issue in Congress.

The contamination has been documented across the region. Researchers have found PFAS in the blood of residents in northwest Georgia and in private drinking water wells, and some communities have had to stop drawing water from rivers where contamination was detected. A federal investigation traced pollution to carpet manufacturing in the area, and the chemicals have been found in the blood of residents and in some municipal water supplies.

Recent research from Emory University has also examined whether common cholesterol-lowering drugs could reduce the levels of PFAS chemicals in the blood of people in northwest Georgia, an effort aimed at understanding the health risks faced by residents.

The formation of the caucus comes as communities across the Southeast grapple with the legacy of industrial contamination and the steep costs of cleanup. For northwest Georgia, where carpet manufacturing has long been an economic anchor, the pollution has left residents and local officials facing difficult decisions about how to pay for safer water.

Fuller said the caucus will focus on making sure federal resources reach the communities that need them most, and he credited increased attention to the issue for helping build momentum in Washington.

"The technology is there," he said. "What we need is the funding to make sure these communities can solve it."