The company is contesting a 20 parts per trillion limit set by the state for Perfluorooctanoic acids, a highly toxic chemical that has contaminated wells in Bennington County.
Saint-Gobain is pursuing an appeal of the standard in state Environmental Court. The company says the level set by the state is not based on generally accepted scientific standards because the threshold is stricter than standards used in other states. The Environmental Protection Agency advises a standard of 70 parts per trillion.
The level was first set on an emergency basis last year after widespread PFOA contamination was discovered in private wells and soils around a closed former factory in North Bennington, which Saint-Gobain owns.
Saint-Gobain is not only suing the state, the company also issued summons to 17 people who testified at an Environmental Court hearing for the new state PFOA standard.
According to Peter Walke, deputy secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, “Saint-Gobain took the interesting tactic of issuing summonses” and he and other state officials have assured the 17 people who received summonses from a deputy sheriff that they are not, in fact, being pulled into Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ Environmental Court appeal of Vermont’s drinking water standards for PFOA.
The recipients received summonses that included the phrase “you are being sued,” Walke said, adding, “That is factually inaccurate, and we have communicated that to Saint-Gobain.” He said the state also made clear “we were not pleased.”
However, an attorney representing the company said Friday that Saint-Gobain was following instructions from state officials on the notices and using a state-approved form and format in making what were notifications that an appeal had been filed on a topic those people had commented on.
Mark Cheffo, of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, of New York City, said the firm was advised that a “personal service” was required as part of its appeal of the PFOA water standard in Environmental Court. The list of names of interested parties was provided by the state, he said.
The regulatory wording of the summons notification also is something Cheffo said was approved by the Vermont judiciary, apparently to in part encourage people not to ignore the notices. The attorney said he understands “there has been concern and confusion,” but added that the people served on Feb. 7 were also contacted later that day via email by Matt Chapman, counsel for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. He said Chapman stated in part that “the only claims are against the State of Vermont — you are not being sued.”
Chapman notified the residents that “Saint-Gobain has apparently used a summons to notify you of its suit filed against the State, serving a copy of this complaint as a courtesy to interested persons who commented on the PFOA related changes to the Vermont Hazardous Waste and Groundwater Protection Rules … We want to express our sincerest apologies for any confusion and distress that this may have caused. If you have questions you should feel free to reach out to me.”
David Bond, associate director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College, has overseen local grant-funded studies related to the PFOA contamination. He said some of the area residents contacted him to ask what the summonses might mean. That only became fully clear, he said, a few days after the papers were delivered.
“They were trying to figure how to navigate this,” Bond said, adding that some of those he spoke to felt threatened by the notices.
“Whether it was intended or not, to deliver the summonses in this manner intimidated people who had had a rather hellish year,” he said.
Walke said the way the serving of summonses was handled “was a first for me.” He said he would like to make it clear that “in the state of Vermont you have the right to make a comment” without facing a lawsuit.
Vermont officials began investigating the levels of PFOA in water supplies last year after the industrial chemical was discovered in water supplies in nearby Hoosick Falls, N.Y.
The state’s focus in the Bennington area has been private wells near the former ChemFab plant in North Bennington. It was purchased by Saint-Gobain in 2000 and closed in 2002 when the company moved the operation to New Hampshire.
The company also faces a proposed class-action lawsuit in federal court in Rutland, filed by residents within the contamination site delineated by the state; and environmental officials are negotiating with the company over the long-term costs of providing safe drinking water, include an estimated $30 million extension of the town’s water system, which is not affected by PFOA.
