by Alex Brooks
DEC has released PFOA data from the Petersburgh landfill and from the surface waters into which the leachate is flowing, with more extensive sampling results than those reported last week. They sampled groundwater[private]from several monitoring wells that were installed when the landfill was capped. One on the north side of the landfill had 4.2 parts per trillion (ppt) in the groundwater. Sampling of groundwater from wells on the west side of the landfill, near where the leachate is seeping out, had results of 760 ppt, 990 ppt, and 1,600 ppt. The
leachate itself, where it comes out of the ground, had 4,200 ppt (as reported last week) and the stream into which it was flowing had 440 ppt. DEC also tested surface waters farther downstream and in several other places in or near the Little Hoosic River. The Little Hoosic River near the Taconic plant had 18 ppt. The Little Hoosic River where it crosses Route 2 had 23 ppt. At the Lewis Hollow Bridge just downstream from Broken Wheel, it had 19 ppt. Where it crosses Route 346 in North Petersburgh, it had 17 ppt. DEC also tested the main stem of the Hoosic River. A sample near Evergreen Farm just upstream of where the Little Hoosic River flows in tested at 2.5 ppt, and a spot downstream of where the Little Hoosic flows in tested at 5.3 ppt. Petersburgh Supervisor Alan Webster said DEC is in an investigatory mode right now and he has not had any communication from them about what is to be done about the landfill situation. The landfill was jointly run by Berlin and Petersburgh for many years after they combined what had previously been two separate side by side landfills. It was jointly run by the two towns when it was closed and capped in the early 1990s. The Petersburgh Town Board interviewed Kevin Young from the law firm of Young/Sommer LLC on Monday evening because they are interested in retaining an environmental attorney to advise the Town on PFOA issues, especially since the landfill issue arose, where the responsibility for remedial action may fall on the Town.[/private]