by Alex Brooks
The C-8 Group in Petersburgh held a very successful meeting on PFOA issues on Tuesday September 6 at the PVMCC. There was a large panel of experts there, including DEC Region 4 Director Keith Goetz and three others from DEC, three from NYS Dept. of Health, two from the EPA, and four from the County, including Kathy Jimino, Stan Brownell, Mary Fran Wachunas and Rich Elder.
There were about 50 citizens present, and they had plenty of questions.[private]
The first topic was DEC’s investigation of the Petersburgh/Berlin landfill. Goertz said his office is currently preparing a plan to take more samples and complete a “site characterization.” DEC personnel will be working at the site some time this fall. He was asked what the timetable is for containing the leachate. Jay Burdick said the amount of leachate coming out is not that much – more like a couple of garden hoses than a hydrant.
Goertz said he didn’t have a timetable yet for containment of leachate. Ben Krahforst said he would like to see something done temporarily to stop the leachate from running into the river. Goertz said he would relay that request “up the chain” and “see if we can get this fast-tracked.”
He was asked if records were kept of what was dumped in there. He said the short answer is “no.” He said he had contacted Energy Answers to see if they had any information about the dumping that was done as part of the landfill closure, when waste was being trucked in from far afield, but he had not received any information yet. Many local residents believe that a lot of toxic materials were brought in at that time.
Goertz added that the leachate samples were tested for a “laundry list” of chemicals, and no toxic materials were detected in any significant quantity except for PFOA and PFOS.
Goertz was asked who the responsible parties are who will bear the cost of cleaning up the landfill. He said that has not been determined yet. He was asked if the entity that dumped the PFOA in the landfill cannot be found, will the cost of cleanup be handed to the Town taxpayers? He said, “I don’t envision that happening.”
Concerning a filter for the Berlin Elementary School, he said they are moving forward with installation of a filtration system as soon as possible. Concerning a filtration system for the entire Berlin water system, he said that is going to be challenging. “We are looking at it, and it still may happen, but it also might not happen.”
He was asked about maintenance of filtration systems at private homes, know at “POET” systems. He said either DEC or Taconic will handle maintenance of those. Discussions with Taconic about that have not been concluded, but he said probably Taconic will handle systems where water tested above 70 ppt, and the State will handle maintenance of systems where water tested at less than 70 ppt.
Concerning the negotiations with Taconic more generally, Goertz said, “We want them to do more than they’re willing to do.” He said the way that is likely to go is the State will get the best agreement it can with Taconic, and then it will use Superfund money to do whatever they feel needs be done, and try to recover that later through the legal system.
Emily Marpe said more testing of soil and groundwater is needed right around the plant where the highest concentrations of PFOA have been found. Goertz said DEC is pushing Taconic to undertake such a study, but they don’t have an agreement yet. He said “Taconic and DEC are not seeing eye to eye.”
Rob Swider from NYS Dept. of Health said the filtration system for Petersburgh’s municipal water system was approved by his department on August 7, and it is now being fabricated by the manufacturer. He is expecting it to be operational sometime around the end of November or in December.
The question of a search for a new water source was raised. Water Superintendent Ben Krahforst said neither the Town nor the Water District has the money to do test wells to look for water that is free of PFOA. The Town has applied for funding for this, but he was not sure what the chances are of obtaining that funding.
Former Supervisor Zeegie Krahforst asked if Superfund money could be obtained for this purpose. Goertz said it is possible, but he seemed doubtful about it.
Several people asked about whether PFOA is coming out of Taconic’s smokestack. Tom Gentile, NYSDOH specialist in air deposition, said they do not have data on that yet. The have done a study like that on a plant in New Hampshire which had no emission controls in its smokestack, and the amount of PFCs emitted was small, so he would guess that the amount coming out of Taconic’s stack, which does have emission control equipment, would be very small. He said they are asking Taconic to conduct PFC testing of their stack so DOH can characterize the output. He said based on that data he hopes to do an air dispersion model which could predict the approximate air deposition at any given spot.
Several people asked about fish, plants and wildlife. Dr. David Smith of DOH said based on the soil concentrations that have been found so far, there should not be enough PFOA in vegetables grown to cause any concern. The State is not yet advising against consumption of fish from the Little Hoosic River. They plan to do sampling of fish, and the data from those tests will be analyzed by The NYS Dept. of Health, who will then decide whether an advisory about eating fish should be issued.[/private]