The EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) came and sampled the air emissions from Saint Gobain Performance Plastics in Merrimack. Emily Corwin, an investigative reporter formerly with New Hampshire Public Radio, found evidence that Saint Gobain closed up shop in Bennington, Vt., in 2002 because New Hampshire had less strict environmental regulations. Over the last almost two decades they have been polluting the air, soil and groundwater with chemicals emitted from their stacks, including per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
PFAS chemicals are used to coat surfaces to make them resistant to moisture and high temperatures. The chemical structure contains carbon-fluorine bonds that are the strongest bonds known. The same properties that makes these chemicals great for waterproofing or putting out fuel-based fires make them extremely difficult and expensive to remove from the environment, and we do not know how to remove them from the body once they are ingested.
Knowing this, the company and manufacturers said they would phase out perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) – also known as C8 – by 2006. However, recently a spike in the PFOA concentration was detected in a groundwater monitoring well located on the plant property – an increase of more than 2,000%.
Additionally, the EPA detected 190 PFAS compounds in the air emissions at the Saint Gobain plant, more than half of which they call “novel,” meaning they have no record of registration (CAS) or any other information on them. Add that to the approximately 4,700 PFAS we know about.
The proposed air treatment is not proven at the scale needed for the Saint Gobain facility, yet they are able to continue to pollute our state, groundwater and drinking water. We also don’t know if the treatment will create other dangerous toxins.
As a result of the new New Hampshire maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), the state acknowledges that the people drinking water with PFOA and three other PFAS below the old standard (70 parts per trillion) is not safe, and Saint Gobain had to provide bottled water to about 120 additional residences and is in the process of sampling 350 additional residences. The area where drinking water is contaminated by air emissions from Saint Gobain will likely expand.
If you live in Merrimack, Litchfield, Londonderry or Bedford, check to see if you qualify to have the DES and/or Saint Gobain sample your private well. Although we don’t have standards, nor do we even know what many of the PFAS emitted are, much less have analytical test methods for them, I would opt for the tests on your water that have the longest list of PFAS. Know what’s in your water.
There is also a legislative commission that meets approximately monthly in Concord on this issue. Info is at gencourt.state.nh.us. There will also be subcommittee meetings that focus on health and environment. All of these meetings are open to the public, and we welcome public involvement.
Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to New Hampshire and Vermont. Industrial pollution from manufacturers using or creating these chemicals has been identified in Parkersburg, W.Va., Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and Veneto, Italy.
(Mindi Messmer is a registered professional geologist in New Hampshire and Maine, a former state representative from Rye, and co-founder of New Hampshire Safe Water Alliance.)