Gov. Peter Shumlin announced the expanded testing for the suspected carcinogen Wednesday.
Manufacturers of Teflon products have in the past used PFOA in the fabrication process, and at least three former factories in the state are believed to be the sources of contamination found in nearby drinking water and surface waters.
Representatives of many of the 11 additional facilities the state has committed to testing say they don’t use the chemical and haven’t in the past. Others say they’ve used it but contained it.
The state is testing around one of the facilities right away — Phoenix Wire in South Hero — and the rest next week, government officials said.
“We will obviously comply with whatever testing they want to do,” said the president of Colchester-based Champlain Cable, Bill Reichert. “We have a pretty decent environmental commitment here, and we think we’re good citizens.”
Testers aren’t likely to find PFOA near his company’s facilities, Reichert said, because it doesn’t currently use PFOA and has never, to his knowledge, been present in the factory.
Reichert said he doesn’t anticipate any problems as a result of the testing.
The operations officer at another cable company said much the same thing.
“I think the state is doing its due diligence by testing the water, but I do not believe they’ll find any contamination around our site,” said Sherry Corbin, operations officer at Phoenix Wire.
Corbin would not say whether her company uses PFOA or has used it in the past, but she said Phoenix Wire uses a different manufacturing process than that employed by North Bennington’s former Chemfab factory. The Chemfab factory is believed to be the source of PFOA that’s turned up in at least 100 residential wells.
Phoenix Wire doesn’t emit pollutants into the air in the same fashion as Chemfab did, Corbin said. As a result, Corbin said she doesn’t believe her company has released PFOA into the environment.
A woman who answered the phone at Winooski-based Super-Temp Wire and Cable said her company uses a different process than did Chemfab and that as a result environmental contamination “wouldn’t happen in our process.”
The woman would not identify herself, and attempts to contact Super-Temp President Randy Miller were unsuccessful Wednesday.
The former Belden wire plant in Essex Junction did make products containing Teflon, said investor relations Vice President Matt Trachtenberg. But he said PFOA was never used in the factory. Other manufacturers that supplied the Belden factory with materials may have used the chemical, Trachtenberg said.
The Belden plant made insulated wire and cable, Trachtenberg said. News reports from the time said the plant closed in 2004.
Shelburne-based Harbour Industries will also see scientists testing around its facilities on behalf of the state. General Manager Joe Hennessy said he couldn’t comment on whether they’ll find anything but said PFOA has not been in use at the factory.
Water near the former IBM plant in Essex Junction, now owned by GlobalFoundries, will also undergo testing. Attempts to reach company representatives were not successful.
The DEC will also test near the Air National Guard base at Burlington International Airport. Representatives of the base did not respond to requests for comment.
The fire chief at the Vermont Fire Academy in Pittsford said PFOA was used at his school but had been contained. The substance was a component of foam that firefighters use on certain types of fires.
Jim Litevich, chief of the academy, said his school phased out the PFOA-containing foam in 2011 — not out of health concerns, but because a much cheaper alternative presented itself.
When used, the foam and whatever flaming fluids firefighters put it on all got contained with an in-ground recycling system, Litevich said. The academy has never tested for PFOA at or near its location, he said.
Environmental Conservation Commissioner Alyssa Schuren said at least some of the companies she contacted for testing had already begun inquiries into testing for the chemical, but none had contacted her office to request it.
The DEC and the Department of Health chose to test for PFOA near these businesses and organizations after screening statewide for any companies that could possibly have used PFOA or related substances in their manufacturing processes, said the assistant public information coordinator for the state’s PFOA response, Danika Frisbie. The industries that most commonly use the chemical are those that coat wires or build semiconductors, Frisbie said.
Since there aren’t a great number of manufacturers in the state, there weren’t many places that fit that description, Frisbie said. At those that did, Frisbie said, there is no reason to believe the pollutant has escaped into the environment. The tests are called precautionary.
The state doesn’t know comprehensively where to look for potential PFOA contamination because the chemical remains unregulated, which means industries have been largely free to emit or dispose of the carcinogen as they see fit, Frisbie said.
Also because the substance isn’t regulated, Vermont manufacturers could have used products containing PFOA unknowingly, since manufacturers aren’t required to label their wares when it’s present.
In addition to North Bennington wells, PFOA has been found in wells in Bennington and a water system Pownal. The former Warren Wire factory in Pownal is believed to be one source.
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics purchased Chemfab in 2000 and moved its operations to New Hampshire in 2002. Company representatives at the time said the move was prompted by a desire to escape Vermont’s air pollution standards.
The chemical has been found at the New Hampshire facility, as well as at multiple Teflon-based production facilities in New York state.
