Author Bruce Edwards, Vermont Business Journal It promises to provide high-paying jobs. This is what the ChemFab factory has provided for more than 30 years. However, the factory that produces Teflon-coated fiberglass fabrics on Water Street also provides something that workers and residents of North Bennington do not rely on: contaminated drinking water. The well water was contaminated by PFOA in the factory chimney and was not discovered until last year, 14 years after the owner Saint-Gobain closed the factory and moved its operations to New Hampshire. The plant ran from 1970 to 2002.

PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) is related to cancer, thyroid disease and other health problems.

In July, the state and Saint-Gobain reached a $20 million partial settlement agreement. The funds will be used to extend the town’s water supply line to 200 affected houses in North Bennington and Bennington.

The settlement includes the area west of the railway track along Route 7A.

For residents affected east of the track, the state and Saint-Gobain are waiting for the results of a quick investigation into the source of PFOA.

During this period, Saint-Gobain provided filtered tap water to residents in the affected areas. 

Bennington County Senator Richard Sears said that so far, the settlement has been "half a loaf of bread."

"I said a long time ago that this is our Flint, Michigan, and we must do better than Michigan," he said. "So I am very satisfied that about half of the team completed it, but personally, we need to do better for the rest."

Sears said the PFOA pollution source east of Highway 7 is still problematic because it is also the location of a local landfill.

If the landfill is the source of PFOA on the side of Highway 7, Sears says the only culprit may be ChemFab. 

Chuck Schwer of the Ministry of Environmental Protection said that all signs indicate that Saint-Gobain is the responsible party.

“We certainly firmly believe that Saint-Gobain and the former ChemFab are responsible for the other part, the east side of the site,” said Schwer, director of DEC's waste management and prevention department.

He said that because Saint-Gobain disagrees with the state's conclusions, investigations into the source of PFOA pollution on the east side of Highway 7 are still continuing.

Schwer said it is important to reach a partial solution so that the construction of the waterline extension can begin this year.

He said Saint-Gobain has been providing bottled water. Schwer said that for any residence with a PFOA content of more than 20 parts per trillion, the company has arranged to install an entry point carbon filtration system.

Schwer said that the ChemFab plant's emission control aims to capture certain pollutants, not PFOA. 

As for the possible discharge of PFOA waste water into groundwater, Schwer canton currently does not have any information indicating that the waste water discharged by the factory is the source of PFOA pollution. 

When asked to comment on the source of PFOA pollution and whether the wastewater discharged from the factory has an impact, Saint-Gobain sent the following statement via email:

“The state and Saint-Gobain continue to discuss the possible source of PFOA east of Highway 7. The settlement with the state involving certain houses on the west side of Highway 7 ensures that the state and Saint-Gobain’s area can be constructed in 2017. Start.-Gobain has reached an agreement. In the eastern region, the two sides agreed to expedite the investigation, coupled with the recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's investigation of the Bennington landfill, will help improve the understanding of the potential source or source of PFOA."

In July, two public hearings on the settlement were held in Bennington.

At the hearing, Schwer said that the state assured residents on the east side of Highway 7 that the state “will not go away” and will continue to work to provide them with safe drinking water.  

Sears said that the lawsuit filed by residents hopes to recover costs not covered by the settlement agreement, including the possibility of loss of home value, health issues related to PFOA, and the cost of who will pay for future water bills-the homeowner’s system or Saint gobain.

The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in May, seeking class action status.

The two real estate agents contacted stated that they did not see any evidence that the PFOA pollution has affected the value of the house.

Kathy Sollier of Maple Leaf Realty said she recently sold a house in an area contaminated with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA).

Kathleen Hoisington, a real estate agent who lives in the PFOA community, said that so far, she has not seen PFOA as a problem.

Sears recalled receiving complaints from residents about factory emissions and odor while the factory was still operating, but the state was still unable to resolve the issue with the company. When Saint-Gobain left the state, he said that the company used the state’s regulatory burden as a reason for leaving.

This article first appeared in the October issue of Vermont Business Journal.

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