by Alex Brooks
The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation announced on Friday June 3 that Saint-Gobain and Honeywell had signed Consent Orders which spell out in detail their responsibilities for the cleanup and response to the PFOA contamination crisis in Hoosick Falls. [private]Under these two Consent Orders the State will require the companies to investigate the source and determine the full scope and extent of contamination from four Honeywell and two Saint-Gobain plants, to investigate the feasibility of providing an alternate water supply for the Town and Village, pay for installation and maintenance of the temporary and full capacity filtration systems for the Village municipal water supply, as well as for bottled water until the full-capacity filtration system is in place, and to reimburse the State for the costs it has incurred responding to the PFOA contamination crisis.
In addition, the State will rehabilitate Well #3 of the Municipal water system as an interim remedial measure to improve the effectiveness of the Village’s carbon treatment system, and will transfer funds to the Village to cover rebates to residents for water they paid for when the water could not be used.
The Consent Order also requires Honeywell and Saint-Gobain to negotiate with the Village to reimburse it for costs it has incurred responding to the PFOA contamination crisis. The companies have indicated they will make a comprehensive offer to reimburse the Village for all its costs.
In the immediate aftermath of the signing of the Consent Order, the State wired the Village of Hoosick Falls $178,000 to be used for rebates to village water users. Mayor Borge said it might take a month or so to pass that on to the households on its water system.
Honeywell and Saint-Gobain will now commence a “Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study,” which will propose a plan for comprehensive clean-up and provision of long-term safe drinking water for both the Village and the Town. The plan must be approved by the State in a document called a “Record of Decision” which will spell out all of the remedial measures planned. This document will be subject to public comment and input before it is finalized.
The companies are required to submit a “Work Plan” within a month, outlining the things they plan to study in the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study, and this work plan would contain timeframes for the completion of the studies contemplated. Thus there will be provisions to make sure the study is completed in a timely way, but it is not possible yet to say how long the study will take to complete.
Hoosick Falls Mayor David Borge said, “Saint-Gobain and Honeywell’s agreements with New York State represent a giant step forward for the greater Hoosick Falls community.
“More than two months ago, residents were notified that it was safe to drink and cook with treated water from the Village’s municipal supply. But that decision did not close the doors on our PFOA water crisis. We still do not understand how PFOA has contaminated our groundwater, soil and air. The investigation that Saint-Gobain and Honeywell have agreed to conduct will provide that understanding so a comprehensive, thorough cleanup of our community can be performed.
“We understand that the Consent Orders require the companies to negotiate with the Village for costs related to the presence of PFOA in the municipal water supply. We are actively pursuing that agreement in order to ensure local taxpayers do not bear the costs of a situation they did not create.
“It is not uncommon for remedial investigations like this to drag on for months, or even years. The Village Board will work closely with officials from the New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation and Health to ensure this study continues moving forward to enable the companies to perform a thorough cleanup as soon as possible.”
The agreement with Honeywell also requires them to investigate contamination at several disposal sites around Hoosick Falls where contaminants may have been disposed of, and to clean up contamination found there.
To date The State has tested 1000 private wells in the town of Hoosick, and installed 765 filtration systems in homes. 652 of those systems have been tested and cleared for all uses. They have also tested blood samples from over 2000 local people to assess serum PFOA levels.
The DEC also said in its press release that it has “achieved significant progress in its efforts to identify alternate drinking water sources,” but it does not specify what those sources might be.[/private]