by Alex Brooks
The Petersburgh Town Board began their meeting on Monday February 15 with TV crews crowding the room, after word got out that Taconic is testing groundwater and wells in the vicinity of its property for PFOA contamination. Petersburgh Supervisor Peter Schaaphok said he contacted the environmental compliance officer at Taconic the previous week to ask if they had done any testing and found that she was about to call him about the PFOA issue.
[private]Schaaphok said she told him that Taconic had stopped using materials containing PFOA in their production process back in 2003. They had tested for PFOA at that time, and again in 2012 and had found PFOA in the water. Schaaphok did not know exactly where the samples were taken or what level of concentration was found, but he did say that the levels had gone down in the ten years of so between the two tests.
Two days before the meeting, State Department of Health and DEC personnel had come out to Petersburgh and taken samples from the Water District for PFOA testing. Water District Superintendent Ben Krahforst said they took one sample at the pump house and one at his house in the hamlet. He said they also took samples along Coonbrook Road and in Berlin. Krahforst also took his own samples to be tested at St. Peter’s Benders Laboratory, which is the lab that the Water District normally uses for its water testing.
Krahforst said Rich Elder from the County Health Department will be coming out here on February 17 to take samples in Petersburgh and Berlin to test for PFOA. He said he discussed the matter with Elder, and they agreed it is unlikely that the Water District wells will have any contamination, but they want to know for sure.
Peter Schaaphok said he believed the NYS Department of Health sent letters to homeowners near the Taconic plant to ask if they would like to have DOH test their water for PFOA, but he thought those were sent the previous Friday, and with the Monday holiday, the letters might not have arrived by the time of the Town Board meeting.
Schaaphok posed the question to the Board of whether the Town should do its own testing, or rely on testing done by the County and the State. Tests are about $275 per test, and if the Town did a lot of them, it could get expensive. The Board said they were open to the Town getting involved, but it might be too early to say what makes sense. They wanted to see how comprehensive the County and State testing is, and what they are finding.
The Board agreed to schedule a Special Meeting as soon as they have some results of testing on the samples that were taken this week, so they would have some idea if the Town is facing a problem or not. Schaaphok said he is committed to transparency, and he said he will let everyone know about test results as soon as he receives them.[/private]