BENNINGTON — The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee will meet in Bennington on Jan. 31 to hear comments on proposed legislation dealing with PFOA and other industrial pollution issues.
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, vice chairman of the committee, said he asked his colleagues to travel to Bennington to hear from residents affected by PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) in Bennington, North Bennington and Pownal. The two-hour session will begin at 5 p.m. and be held at Bennington College’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action.
“This is a major public health issue,” he said, “and Senator [Dick] Sears and I are doing everything possible to make our community whole again. I am grateful to my committee members for making the effort to come to Bennington to hear first-hand the stories and the struggles of the people we represent.”
Campion said the committee will consider two bills addressing industrial contamination issues. “The first, S.10, proposes that a person who releases perfluorooctanoic acid into the air, groundwater, surface water, or onto the land is liable for the costs of extending the water supply of a public water system to a property when the property is served by a potable water supply,” he said.
Sears and Campion sponsored the legislation in the wake of PFOA contamination of private wells and properties in the area around a North Bennington factory that once used PFOAs in manufacturing processes, as well as PFOA contamination likely emanating from a different factory in Pownal, which affected a well-fed water system.
The state is negotiating with the current mill owner, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, about the cost of extending town water lines to properties where private wells were contaminated, but no final agreement has been announced. The cost is estimated at around $30 million.
Eventually, Campion said, “I hope my committee will consider extending this bill to include other harmful chemicals. Act 154, which was passed last biennium, created a working group to identify gaps in laws aimed at protecting Vermonters from contamination by toxic substances.”
The second bill under consideration proposes to exempt municipalities from liability for hazardous material release from a municipal landfill.
Sen. Chris Bray, D-New Haven, chairman of the Senate committee, said in a release, “Clean water is essential to health, and it’s something we cannot take for granted. Hearing directly from people who have lost their source of clean water will help our committee craft a stronger, better informed bill. We want to help the people of Bennington as well as people throughout Vermont.”
Members of the public who are interested in testifying at the Jan. 31 session are encouraged to arrive early. Written testimony also will be accepted.
