Table PFOA deal: Sen.
Board could vote Monday on pact
HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. >> U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is urging Hoosick Falls officials to table the proposed PFOA settlement with two companies accused of polluting the village’s water supply.
“I have very serious concerns that the terms stipulated in this proposal are not in the best interests of the residents of the Village of Hoosick Falls,” Gillibrand wrote in a letter to Hoosick Falls Mayor David Borge.
According to a news release, Gillibrand sent the letter to Borge, urging him and the village Board of Trustees to table the current PFOA settlement and abstain from agreeing to the proposed legal agreement with SaintGobain Performance Plastics and Honeywell International.
“The potential future impacts on the families in Hoosick Falls and neighboring communities is still undetermined. To allow polluters to pay a mere $1,045,000 to the village is inadequate to cover the immense risk that has been placed on public health,” Gillibrand wrote in the letter. “The residents of Hoosick Falls deserve to know that every available resource at the local, state and federal levels is being used to fully challenge the responsible parties and ensure that full remediation will occur. Furthermore, the village should not be precluded from taking legal action on behalf of the residents in the event that future circumstances warrant such action.”
The board could vote Monday on the revised settlement agreement. A special meeting is expected to take place in the Hoosick Falls Armory at 6 p.m.
The board had been expected to vote Thursday on the agreement, but unexpectedly cut the meeting short and postponed the vote. The board was also confronted Thursday by many residents, who said they were angry about the proposed settlement and that the board was not planning to take public comments before voting.
The latest settlement agreement, which was brought to the public’s attention recently, is an additional $195,000 compared to the original proposal that the board voted to delay action on approving last month after hearing many concerns from residents during a public meeting.
Village officials said the settlement would be used to help the village pay for engineering services, legal advice and public relations without busting its small budget, and also to reimburse the village for costs related to the contamination.
Village and state officials have been working to make sure the village has clean drinking water since the discovery in 2014 of high levels of PFOA that could have been flowing through the village’s water for years.
Perfluorooctanoic acid had been used in the village for decades in the manufacture of products such as non-stick cookware and electrical insulation before the federal Environmental Protection Agency stepped in during 2006 and reached an agreement with several manufacturing giants, including DuPont Co., to virtually eliminate use of the substance. Chronic exposure to PFOA has been linked to testicular cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis and pregnancy-induced hypertension. Studies suggest other possible health consequences, including a connec-
tion to pancreatic cancer.
As part of the agreement, the village agrees not to sue either or both companies for their potential role in contaminating three existing wells with PFOA and their associated water delivery apparatus in their current configuration at the existing water treatment plant.
The agreement would allow the village to pursue any other claims, such as those associated with wells or their equipment, alternative sources of water, extensions or additions to the current municipal water supply system, contaminants other than PFOA, responding to PFOA contamination other than in, and associated with, the village’s current municipal water supply system. For example, the village can pursue litigation rela- or emanating from, the village-owned tive to contamination at, landfill.