A shopper places her goods into her car outside a supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. New Zealand plans to ban disposable plastic shopping bags by next July as the nation tries to live up to its clean-and-green image. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday that New Zealanders use hundreds of millions of the bags each year and that some of them end up polluting the precious coastal and marine environment. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
A shopper places her goods into her car outside a supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. New Zealand plans to ban disposable plastic shopping bags by next July as the nation tries to live up to its clean-and-green image. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Friday that New Zealanders use hundreds of millions of the bags each year and that some of them end up polluting the precious coastal and marine environment. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) Credit: Mark Baker

A New Hampshire town on Monday asked the state to temporarily shut down a plastics company after it says higher concentrations of a hazardous chemical were found in groundwater.

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics used PFOA at its Merrimack plant. The chemical has been linked to certain kinds of cancer and thyroid disease.

The town, the state and Saint-Gobain have been working on groundwater contamination since 2016. In letters sent Monday to Saint-Gobain and to the Department of Environmental Resources, the town said it was told Saint-Gobain stopped using the chemical in 2014, but testing this year shows the results are getting worse.

“It would be beneficial if the Town Council, the State and Saint-Gobain could work cooperatively to correct and prevent the environmental impacts and health threats imposed on the Merrimack community,” the letter to Saint-Gobain said. “However, recent evidence appears to indicate that Saint-Gobain has not and is not acting in good faith to protect the citizens of Merrimack and other surrounding communities.”

A message seeking comment was left with Saint-Gobain. In a statement to WMUR, a spokeswoman said Saint-Gobain doesn’t believe a presentation shared at a Merrimack Town Council meeting is a fair representation of the sampling events at the plant.

“The PowerPoint shared cherry-picks the highest concentration of results – from numerous taken at each location – and ignores the vast majority of the data collected,” Lia LoBello of Saint-Gobain said. “All of these results have been reviewed by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) as part of a larger sampling program we have in place. We continue to work with the state to take action when needed and monitor where appropriate.”

A message seeking comment also was left for the DES.