At the suggestion of Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, members of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee traveled here Tuesday for an information-gathering session at Bennington College.
Although the committee expects to hear from environmental, medical, legal and other experts at the Statehouse in Montpelier, “The missing ingredient for us is talking to people who have been affected by this,” said Chair Chris Bray, D-Addison. “We are really here as a group to listen.”
Proposed legislation includes S.10, a bill submitted by Campion and Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, to make any party releasing perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, into the atmosphere liable for costs of extending municipal water service to contaminated properties to provide safe drinking water.
A second bill would shield communities from the costs of dealing with PFOA contamination found in and around a landfill site — as was the case last year in Shaftsbury.
The session Tuesday included two hours of testimony from residents who thought their well water was pure and the soil in their yards safe for vegetable gardens or for children’s play — only to learn last spring that the widely used industrial chemical had spread to their properties.
State officials have said they believe the source of the contamination is a now-closed former Chemfab factory in North Bennington. Although the property’s owner has not acknowledged responsibility, the company has supplied bottled water to affected residents and carbon filtering units at private well sites. The company and state officials have been negotiating concerning the long-term costs, primarily for extending town water lines.
“It was shocking, to say the least,” said resident Tom Gentile.
When his well water was tested, the level of PFOA registered 438 parts per trillion, far above the limit of 20 parts per trillion the state considers safe in drinking water.
Gentile said his major concern revolves around indications that the current owner of the Chemfab site, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, might balk at funding water line extensions of the Bennington system. That sentiment was echoed by most others who testified.
Carbon filtering systems installed at the affected homes, even when paid for by the company along with supplies of bottled water, do not constitute an adequate long-term solution, Gentile and others said.
Speakers cited the constant monitoring and water testing required of the point-of-entry treatment filtering systems and the often extreme negative effect on water pressure in homes.
“We have zero water pressure,” one woman said.
“The committee is not leaning in a way of thinking that this is sustainable,” Bray said.
Gentile said he hopes the proposed legislation will require Saint-Gobain to cover the estimated $30 million cost of town water line extensions, as well as other expenses related to the widespread contamination.
Bennington Town Manager Stuart Hurd and Shaftsbury Select Board Chairman Tim Scoggins cited concerns about PFOA contamination in closed landfills — and the sometimes high cost of dealing with such pollution.
Scoggins said that when a slightly elevated level of PFOA was found in a monitoring well near the former town landfill site, the state required the town to pay for testing of nearby water wells, and the entire process cost around $30,000. He said Shaftsbury apparently could still face further state-required testing or other requirements.
“The idea of blaming Shaftsbury for PFOA is ludicrous,” he said. The chemical — used for decades in many consumer products, such as Teflon and other coatings — has been found throughout the environment and in at least low levels in the blood of most U.S. residents tested.
Some speakers said they knew of neighbors or family members who have experienced health effects on a list of those associated with PFOA exposure, including testicular cancer, thyroid disease and high cholesterol. Others said they live in fear their long-term health was compromised by water or soil they once considered safe.
State health officials, who last week came to Bennington to discuss results of blood testing done to check PFOA levels, said some health effects have been associated with elevated or high levels but no conclusive cause-and-effect has been established in studies.
In addition, they said, there is no specific level of PFOA in blood that has been conclusively linked to one or more diseases or conditions.
Drinking contaminated water and/or working at the Chemfab factory were determined to be the major causes of elevated PFOA levels in blood, the health officials said.
“We felt we were blindsided,” one woman said Tuesday, after describing her family’s complete faith in their well water supply and in the contaminated soil where they grew their own food as part of striving for a healthy lifestyle.
Resident Lora Block and others said their water supply did not have a high level of PFOA, but some neighbors’ wells did test high.
She said “it is very unsettling” not to know whether the PFOA level will rise in the future and to realize property values in the whole neighborhood have been hurt by the contamination or threat of contamination.
One man said he has had his well tested three times and the level has jumped around, ranging from 320 to 780 parts per trillion.
The resident also told the committee members that exhaust stack emissions from the factory when it operated sometimes caused black dust to settle on his home, and family members experienced sore throats and headaches. Attempts to persuade the factory management to install exhaust stack filtering went nowhere, he said: “They just paid us lip service.”
Saint-Gobain closed the Bennington factory in 2002, after purchasing the business, and moved the operation to New Hampshire.
Another speaker said he is concerned because his property is at the outside edge of where the contamination is known to have spread, and he wonders if it will be determined filtering rather than a water line connection will suffice in his case.
Contractor and developer Jim Goodine said he and a partner have a 22-lot home subdivision near the former plant and still have six lots to sell, but that now looks unlikely to happen because of the contamination.
“I would not drill a well out there,” he said.
Another man said, “My home is not sellable. It has zero value.”
Goodine and other speakers also said they complained to state and federal officials about the smokestack emissions and other issues when the plant was operating but were told “there is nothing we can do.”
Veterinarian Dr. Bob Bergman, of West Mountain Animal Hospital, said many pet owners also were devastated to learn they had been unknowingly giving their pets contaminated water.
The Senate committee is accepting written testimony as well as it considers PFOA-related legislation. Campion said area residents can contact him about submitting comments.
