Taxpayers foot the bill after Saint-Gobain refuses to sample wells it may have contaminated

Nearly all Americans have measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. (Dana Wormald | New Hampshire Bulletin)

The state and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics have clashed over whether the company has a responsibility to sample wells within the area where it has agreed to remediate PFAS contamination attributed to its Merrimack facility.

In recent years, the French plastics manufacturer agreed with the state that it would provide drinking water solutions to designated properties spanning several communities in the area of its facility, which ceased operations in May. It has delivered bottled water to affected properties and has worked on more permanent solutions, such as water line connections and treatment systems.

But it seems the company draws a line at complying with recent requests from the state to sample dozens of wells within that remediation region, known as the consent-decree area, which includes parts of Bedford, Hudson, Litchfield, Londonderry, and Merrimack. Hundreds of properties in those areas tested above state standards for a type of PFAS chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, contamination linked to air emissions from the facility.

PFAS, which don’t break down naturally in the environment, are commonly used in industrial and consumer products for their stain- and water-resistant properties – so much so that nearly all Americans have measurable amounts of PFAS in their blood, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry .

Research has linked PFAS to a number of health problems: high cholesterol, weakened immune systems, decreased fertility, increased blood pressure in pregnant women, developmental problems in children, and prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.

The company’s refusal to test wells in the consent-decree area has left taxpayers to foot the bill. As of July 11, the state has sampled or scheduled sampling for approximately 72 residences, according to Michael Wimsatt, director of the solid waste division of the Department of Environmental Services.

About 10 percent of the 63 properties for which results have been received had PFOA levels above the state’s ambient groundwater quality standard of 12 parts per trillion, and 70 percent exceeded the 4 parts per trillion maximum contaminant level recently set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water, Wimsatt said.

About 74 property-owners have not responded to sampling offers, and two have declined sampling, he said at a meeting earlier this month of a commission that studies the environmental and public health impacts of PFAS in the area.

“We’re doing it only because we feel that those people deserve to be sampled,” Wimsatt said, “not because we think the state’s responsible to do it.”

One argument Saint-Gobain has made to the state for its refusal, Wimsatt said, is that the contamination may come from other sources besides the company’s manufacturing.

In a statement through Saint-Gobain North America spokesperson Suzanne Loranc, the company said it has “collected several thousand groundwater samples within the consent-decree area in accordance with applicable regulations and consent decree requirements.”

“Due to the known commercial and industrial activities throughout the area,” Loranc said, “we believe it would be beneficial to the state and the residents within the consent decree that DES continue to investigate all the potential sources of PFAS, especially in areas where existing sampling results demonstrate a mixture of PFAS that is consistent with PFAS sources found outside of Saint-Gobain’s facility.”

Wimsatt acknowledged there are other potential sources of PFAS contamination within the 64 square miles of the consent-decree boundaries. “There are some examples where we do see a different (chemical) signature that may be associated with a fire station or some other facility,” he said.

But that fact doesn’t change the state’s position that Saint-Gobain has an obligation to complete the sampling within the consent-decree area.

“I don’t think anybody, including Saint-Gobain, disputes that they’ve had widespread impacts to groundwater and drinking water within the consent-decree area,” Wimsatt said, “and to that extent, even if there are other sources, it doesn’t mean that they’re not responsible.”

Some PFAS commission members expressed frustration that sampling efforts have come from public money instead of Saint-Gobain.

“It kind of upsets me to know that the state is expending taxpayer money to sample wells that are within the consent decree,” said Rep. Rosemarie Rung, a Merrimack Democrat.

But the state intends to get that money back. Wimsatt told commission members that DES has already told Saint-Gobain it intends to recover the costs of the sampling.

“Make no mistake, we’re not happy with that either,” Wimsatt said in response to frustration voiced by some commission members. “There’s a reason that we asked them to do that sampling, because we thought, we feel, and continue to feel that they’re responsible to do that sampling.”

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