Board Votes To Accept Payment
By Alex Brooks
At a Special Meeting on Tuesday, February 27, the Village of Hoosick Falls Board of Trustees unanimously voted to accept a payment from Honeywell and Saint-Gobain to pay some of the Village’s PFOA-related expenses.
The Village’s environmental attorney, David Engel of the firm Nolan & Heller, said the Village “is not entering into a settlement.” He said this payment is to reimburse the Village for some of its expenses that were incurred because of the PFOA contamination caused by the manufacturing activities of the two companies in Hoosick Falls, as required by the Consent Order signed by the companies about two years ago.
Engel said in his discussions with attorneys from the two companies over the past month he offered them an interim settlement, which would have involved substantially more money and broad admissions of responsibility for the PFOA contamination and its
economic and health effects, and found them not interested in pursuing that. He said in the course of those discussions, his team revealed some of the information and evidence that it has against the companies, “but by no means all of it.”
When that effort stalled, Engel prepared a list of the Village’s PFOA-related expenses and lost revenue totaling $707,392.62. Expenses included Village personnel costs; fuel, electricity, and other direct expenses; engineering and certain legal services. The lost revenue was water and sewer revenue related to the PFOA contamination. He sent the two companies a letter in early February demanding reimbursement of those expenses and that lost revenue, and giving them a deadline of February 20 to respond. On February 20 they called to ask for a few more days to respond and on February 23 they offered to pay less than half of the sum that Engel had demanded – $330,251.48. This sum reimbursed certain direct expenses and engineering costs, but the companies would not agree to pay any lost water or sewer revenue, any costs for legal services, or certain Village personnel costs.
Engel recommended that the Village accept this payment, because acceptance does not require that the Village sign any release of its claims against the two companies for the PFOA contamination. The Village retains all its rights to pursue claims against the companies both for further reimbursement of expenses and lost revenues as well as for further claims for damages to the Village caused by the PFOA contamination. Engel said, “There is no downside here – we are giving up nothing.”
Engel said once the Village agrees to accept the payment, it will be wired to the Village within a week.
Engel said he will continue to press the Village’s claims against Honeywell and Saint-Gobain. He said their approach so far has been to pay the minimum that they can get away with, which he called, “an unfortunate and short-sighted approach.” He said it is likely that litigation will be necessary, but he seemed very confident that the litigation would be successful. “The companies will be held responsible. They are not getting away with anything,” he said.
After describing the nature of the payment offered, The Mayor accepted questions and comments from citizens in attendance. Kevin Allard thanked the Mayor and Trustees for posting the resolution on the website and giving the residents a chance to participate in the decision-making before accepting the payment. He was pleased with the payment offered and had no objection to accepting it, but he also said the Village drinking water is “remediated water from a Superfund site,” and emphasized that there is still a long road ahead.
John Burns said he was glad to hear of this payment, but he also emphasized that the problem remains. He said, “A clean water source is the only way to save this Village – you have to have clean water.”
Engel said finding an alternative water source is included in the Consent Order signed by the two companies. He was confident that the capital cost of providing an alternative water source will be paid by the companies, but he said, “We will have to make sure that the long-term operating costs of that water source are also borne by the companies.”
Mayor Allen said in the short run these fund will just be used to alleviate the Village’s cash-flow problems, and after they have a chance to consider things such as the Village’s larger financial situation, they will make decisions about how to deploy the funds.
The Village has taken out a Bond Anticipation Note, and several citizens in the audience mentioned that they would like to see it paid off. Trustee Bob Ryan said he did not think any payments are due on that until next year, so they have time to consider carefully their decisions about it.
Trustee Bushner said, “We have confidence in our legal team, so we believe even if we have to make a payment or carry debt for a while, we will be made whole eventually.”
Engel noted that a lawsuit filed by the State of Minnesota against 3M over contamination in Minneapolis from perflourinated chemicals was settled last week for $850 million. That suit was filed in 2010, so it was about eight years from its first filing to settlement. Engel said he does not expect a settlement in Hoosick Falls to be on that scale, but he does expect a substantial sum in the final settlement.
With TV cameras rolling from three different Albany stations, the Board voted to accept, and then adjourned the Special Meeting.