High PFOA Levels Found In Leachate From Hoosick Falls Landfill
by Alex Brooks
The Village Board meeting on July 12 began with an engineer who is working on expansion of the Cumberland Farms in Hoosick Falls giving a presentation. Cumberland Farms is buying the neighboring property, formerly the Elks lodge, in order to expand its parking area to improve, in the words of the engineer, “access and maneuverability.” The existing building on that lot will be removed. There will be an entrance from John Street and the Church Street entrances will be moved further apart.[private]The engineer asked that no parking signs be put up near the entrances so that parked cars will not interfere with ingress and egress. The Board did not want to act on that because the Cumberland Farms proposal had not yet come before the Village Planning Board. The Mayor asked that they complete that step before coming to the Village Board for the no parking signs. Village Attorney Patterson said that a local law would be needed to put up no parking signs, so it could not be done immediately for that reason.
Trustee Kevin O’Malley requested that the company choose ornamental lighting and fencing because the project is being done in an officially designated Historic District. The engineer said he would make that request.
The Mayor reviewed some of the latest developments in the PFOA situation. He said contractors working for Honeywell will be starting immediately, under DEC supervision, an investigation of PFOA contamination near the two sites where its predecessor companies operated – one at the confluence of John Street and Lyman Street in the Village, and one on River Road (Route 22) across from the former McDonalds Restaurant site. The investigation will include field surveys followed by the collection of groundwater, soil, and other samples. Surface water and sediment from creeks, streams, channels, ditches, or standing water also will be collected. The sampling results will be used to plan next steps, which may include constructing groundwater monitoring wells and/or the collection of more soil samples. The contractors will share results with abutting homeowners within 60 days of receiving the data back from the lab. The Mayor said these contractors may be asking permission to take samples from some of the neighboring property owners. If the neighboring property owners refuse permission, then samples will not be taken in those locations. Maps of the sampling plans for these areas are on the Village web site, with projected locations of test wells shown. Saint-Gobain is about to embark on a similar investigation and testing regime for its two plants at Liberty Street and McCaffrey Street.
The Mayor said his administration is still talking with Honeywell and Saint-Gobain about reimbursing the Village for the expenses it has incurred dealing with the PFOA crisis.
He said a number of sources of clean water have been “preliminarily identified” where new wells could potentially be drilled, and State contractors are currently engaged in further investigation of these new water sources. The Mayor did not say exactly where these are, but he said there is a promising spot or two where they are doing larger scale pumping to test the extent of the aquifer, and he said these sites are north of where Route 22 splits from Route 7.
The Mayor also said that all the water refunds have been sent out, and he said contracts have been awarded for the permanent filtration system and preliminary work has begun on construction of that system.
Kevin Allard asked a DEC representative who was attending the meeting about levels of PFOA found in the leachate coming from the landfill. The DEC representative confirmed that one of the samples was found to have 21,000 parts per trillion of PFOA in it, but most of the samples were considerably lower than that. He said most of the samples of the leachate were in the neighborhood of 1,000 parts per trillion.
Rob Allen said he wanted to see blood testing data specifically from people who live in the Village and drink the municipal water because he thought the average data released by the NYS Dept of Health were skewed by inclusion of others whose exposure was less. A representative from the Dept. of Health said they are working on the data now and they expect to release more information very soon.
Town-Wide Police Coverage
The Mayor said a recent incident has again raised the issue of whether it would be a good idea for the Village Police to respond to calls in the Town of Hoosick. Although this idea has been raised before and rejected, a new request based on the recent incident has brought it up for discussion once again. Apparently the Sheriff took 19 minutes to arrive at the scene of that incident, and while the Village police were subsequently called to that scene, they were not called originally. Some have suggested that having village Police show up to deal with an incident in a matter of a few minutes might save lives compared to having the Sheriff or the State Police arrive 19 minutes later. It was pointed out that at certain times there are only two Sheriff cars on the road in the entire County. The Mayor said no immediate action will be taken on this issue, but he did agree to begin a conversation about it again. Trustee Bob Ryan commented, “It’s worth talking about if it might save lives.”
by Alex Brooks
The Village Board meeting on July 12 began with an engineer who is working on expansion of the Cumberland Farms in Hoosick Falls giving a presentation. Cumberland Farms is buying the neighboring property, formerly the Elks lodge, in order to expand its parking area to improve, in the words of the engineer, “access and maneuverability.” The existing building on that lot will be removed. There will be an entrance from John Street and the Church Street entrances will be moved further apart.
The engineer asked that no parking signs be put up near the entrances so that parked cars will not interfere with ingress and egress. The Board did not want to act on that because the Cumberland Farms proposal had not yet come before the Village Planning Board. The Mayor asked that they complete that step before coming to the Village Board for the no parking signs. Village Attorney Patterson said that a local law would be needed to put up no parking signs, so it could not be done immediately for that reason.
Trustee Kevin O’Malley requested that the company choose ornamental lighting and fencing because the project is being done in an officially designated Historic District. The engineer said he would make that request.
The Mayor reviewed some of the latest developments in the PFOA situation. He said contractors working for Honeywell will be starting immediately, under DEC supervision, an investigation of PFOA contamination near the two sites where its predecessor companies operated – one at the confluence of John Street and Lyman Street in the Village, and one on River Road (Route 22) across from the former McDonalds Restaurant site. The investigation will include field surveys followed by the collection of groundwater, soil, and other samples. Surface water and sediment from creeks, streams, channels, ditches, or standing water also will be collected. The sampling results will be used to plan next steps, which may include constructing groundwater monitoring wells and/or the collection of more soil samples. The contractors will share results with abutting homeowners within 60 days of receiving the data back from the lab. The Mayor said these contractors may be asking permission to take samples from some of the neighboring property owners. If the neighboring property owners refuse permission, then samples will not be taken in those locations. Maps of the sampling plans for these areas are on the Village web site, with projected locations of test wells shown. Saint-Gobain is about to embark on a similar investigation and testing regime for its two plants at Liberty Street and McCaffrey Street.
The Mayor said his administration is still talking with Honeywell and Saint-Gobain about reimbursing the Village for the expenses it has incurred dealing with the PFOA crisis.
He said a number of sources of clean water have been “preliminarily identified” where new wells could potentially be drilled, and State contractors are currently engaged in further investigation of these new water sources. The Mayor did not say exactly where these are, but he said there is a promising spot or two where they are doing larger scale pumping to test the extent of the aquifer, and he said these sites are north of where Route 22 splits from Route 7.
The Mayor also said that all the water refunds have been sent out, and he said contracts have been awarded for the permanent filtration system and preliminary work has begun on construction of that system.
Kevin Allard asked a DEC representative who was attending the meeting about levels of PFOA found in the leachate coming from the landfill. The DEC representative confirmed that one of the samples was found to have 21,000 parts per trillion of PFOA in it, but most of the samples were considerably lower than that. He said most of the samples of the leachate were in the neighborhood of 1,000 parts per trillion.
Rob Allen said he wanted to see blood testing data specifically from people who live in the Village and drink the municipal water because he thought the average data released by the NYS Dept of Health were skewed by inclusion of others whose exposure was less. A representative from the Dept. of Health said they are working on the data now and they expect to release more information very soon.
Town-Wide Police Coverage
The Mayor said a recent incident has again raised the issue of whether it would be a good idea for the Village Police to respond to calls in the Town of Hoosick. Although this idea has been raised before and rejected, a new request based on the recent incident has brought it up for discussion once again. Apparently the Sheriff took 19 minutes to arrive at the scene of that incident, and while the Village police were subsequently called to that scene, they were not called originally. Some have suggested that having village Police show up to deal with an incident in a matter of a few minutes might save lives compared to having the Sheriff or the State Police arrive 19 minutes later. It was pointed out that at certain times there are only two Sheriff cars on the road in the entire County. The Mayor said no immediate action will be taken on this issue, but he did agree to begin a conversation about it again. Trustee Bob Ryan commented, “It’s worth talking about if it might save lives.”
Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation Loan Payments
The Village received a request from the Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation for a five year moratorium on payments on their loan from the Village. The Mayor said this does not mean that the loan is to be forgiven – it is a temporary suspension of payments. He said the Center is having financial difficulties and they are taking steps to deal with that. He said, “I am hopeful that they will be able to put their house in order.” It was noted that the Center has 170 employees, and it is important to the Village that it continue in operation. The moratorium was approved by the Village Board.
The Board also approved advertising for a new pickup truck for the Village Highway Superintendent Niel Stowell, and for a used dump truck for the Village Highway crew.
The Mayor said the Town of Hoosick Zoning Board has approved permits for the two Village solar installations, so they are now fully approved.
The Board also approved use of Wood Park for the Walter Wood Tractor Show being planned for October 1 from 8 am to 4 pm.
The Village received a request from the Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation for a five year moratorium on payments on their loan from the Village. The Mayor said this does not mean that the loan is to be forgiven – it is a temporary suspension of payments. He said the Center is having financial difficulties and they are taking steps to deal with that. He said, “I am hopeful that they will be able to put their house in order.” It was noted that the Center has 170 employees, and it is important to the Village that it continue in operation. The moratorium was approved by the Village Board.
The Board also approved advertising for a new pickup truck for the Village Highway Superintendent Niel Stowell, and for a used dump truck for the Village Highway crew.
The Mayor said the Town of Hoosick Zoning Board has approved permits for the two Village solar installations, so they are now fully approved.
The Board also approved use of Wood Park for the Walter Wood Tractor Show being planned for October 1 from 8 am to 4 pm.[/private]