New Hampshire State Legislators ask for help on PFAS issues
New Hampshire legislators asked our federal delegation to help get some answers that remain unanswered relating to two significant environmental issues on the Seacoast of New Hampshire. These environmental sites include the former Pease Air Force Base and Coakley Landfill Superfund Site; both of which involve federal regulators and the Department of Defense.
The sites sit geographically central to a CDC-Defined Pediatric Cancer Cluster where children have contracted rhabdomyosarcoma, pleuropulmonary blastoma and brain cancers at higher than expected rates.
Elevated levels of perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) have been detected in a drinking water well that served the public and resulted in the closing of the well in 2014. PFOA, PFOS and PFHxS levels in blood, especially children, are significantly elevated above NHANES in people who drank the water at Pease.
PFAS were also detected in monitoring wells and private and commercial drinking water wells in areas adjacent to Coakley Landfill Superfund Site.
Surface water bodies, which flow throughout the seacoast area, around each of these sites are also impacted with elevated levels of PFAS.
Two wells located at Pease are still supplying water to community members who work and children who attend daycare at Pease. The Air Force and the City of Portsmouth are moving forward with plans to remediate water from the Haven Well and have discussed future plans for incorporating it back into the water supply system due to an Order from EPA.
Residents around Coakley Landfill Superfund site who live in Greenland, Rye, North Hampton and Hampton have concerns about protecting their drinking water too as many wells in the vicinity have detectable levels of several PFAS.
In 2016, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services followed the EPA lead and set an ambient groundwater quality standards (AGWS) of 70 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, only two of the 1,000s of PFAS we now know exist.
Many meetings have been held with community members, regulators and interested parties about the drinking water, environmental impacts and proposed treatment system. However, questions remain unanswered relating to both sites. This past week a group of legislators signed on to the letter below to our federal delegation.
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VIA EMAIL ONLY
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Senator Maggie Hassan
Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter
Re: Request for Assistance with Issues relating to Coakley Landfill Superfund Site and Pease Air Force Base
Dear Senator Shaheen, Senator Hassan and Congresswoman Shea Porter:
The undersigned legislators are requesting assistance from you obtaining information relating to the above referenced sites. We are specifically asking your assistance with the following:
1. Request: Your opinion on CERCLA Hazardous Classification of PFAS. Elevated levels, above New Hampshire ambient groundwater quality standards (AWQS) and the USEPA federal advisory limits, of perfluorinated chemicals (PFAS) have been detected in groundwater and surface water at both Coakley Landfill Superfund Site and the former Pease Air Force Base. We have been told that there are barriers to advancing remedial efforts at Coakley Landfill Superfund site and for health studies for those exposed to drinking the water at Pease Air Force Base because PFAS are not considered to be CERCLA hazardous waste. We request your opinion on this matter and whether our federal delegation can assist with moving this issue forward. In addition, if there is some state level legislation that can be filed to expedite either of these two issues, please advise us.
2.Request: Historical records regarding AFFF products used at Pease from 1970 to present.
Although requested on several occasions the Air Force has not supplied information regarding historical use of aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) formulations at Pease Air Force Base. A recent publication found that about 25% of the PFAS in AFFF are unidentified and at least 40 classes of PFAS exist (Barzen-Hanson KA et. al., 2017). All stakeholders need to understand the components of the AFFF used at the base to evaluate remedial system effectiveness and ensure that the water is safe to consume from all wells, including the Smith and Harrison and other wells in the Portsmouth supply system, that are threatened by contaminant migration from Pease. It is also crucial to understand this prior to considering whether it is safe to consume water from the Haven well if plans include returning that well to distribution after treatment. This is of significant interest since we have a CDC-defined cancer cluster in our 5-town Seacoast area and we are currently assessing whether the selected remedial measure is effective at removing all PFAS that could be contributing to public health issues in this area. Therefore, we specifically request your assistance with obtaining historical records from the Air Force and other parties, as appropriate, relating to the formulation and manufacturer of AFFF products used at the former Pease Air Force Base from 1970 to present.
3. Request: Historical records for materials Superfund Site from the Air Force.
Since the Air Force was responsible for 20% of the responsibility of the clean- up at Coakley Landfill Superfund site and elevated levels of chemicals have been detected in site groundwater, we would like to formally request records of all materials disposed at Coakley Landfill through 1985 and the Rye landfills. This request includes but is not limited to all records of waste products, descriptions and container types as well as any analytical data available for the wastes disposed.
4. Request: Notify civilians, servicemen and dependents lived at the base between 1970 and 1990 of the potential risk from drinking contaminated water while stationed at Pease.
Since the Air Force used AFFF at the former Pease Air Force base starting in 1970, we formally request that the Air Force inform all civilian and military personnel stationed at Pease from 1970 through 1990 (CB&I Federal Services, 2016). Previously, the Air Force stated that they notified personnel who were stationed at the base after 1990 since it was originally assumed that the PFAS contamination resulted from an accident on the airport. We now know that the PFAS contamination predated 1990.
5. Request: Air Force to post signs to alert the public about potential risks associated with swimming or fishing in waterways originating at Pease.
PFAS at levels more than AWQS (only tool to compare them to in New Hampshire) were detected in surface water samples collected by the Conservation Law Foundation in 2017 from several water bodies originating at Pease, respectively. Other states have issued advisories for fishing based on surface water quality concentrations. The Coakley Landfill Group (CLG) has recently been compelled to post advisories (and will do so in about a week) at Berry’s Brook.
6. Request: Assess whether the public is at risk eating fish taken from waterways in contact with Pease surface water or storm water discharges.
The concentrations in most, if not all of these waterways, far exceed the no fish advisory that Michigan issued. Due to the nature of our tourist economy and shellfish and fishing industries in the seacoast we view this as a potential public health hazard that is not being addressed appropriately. However, the Air Force or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, N.H. Fish and Game, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) or New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (NHDHHS) have not made any attempt, that we are aware of, to assess whether fish or shellfish are safe for the public to consume. This is a very concerning issue and we are requesting assistance from the federal delegation to move these issues forward in a more expedient manner.
7. Request: Characterize the extent of PFAS contamination water bodies that originate at Pease.
PFAS at levels more than AWQS (only tool to compare them to in NH) were detected in surface water samples collected by the Conservation Law Foundation in 2017 from several waterways originating at Pease. The Air Force nor NHDES have made any attempt, that we are aware of, to characterize the extent of PFAS contamination in these water bodies.
8. Request: Assess whether the public is at risk from eating livestock or deer in Newington, Portsmouth or Greenland.
Like (6) above, if wildlife including birds, deer and livestock are bio- accumulating high levels of PFAS this could also present a public health risk, if being used as a food source, that is not being addressed. The undersigned request assistance from the federal delegation with moving this issue forward.
9. Request: Identify, locate and sample historical water for for materials disposed at Coakley Landfill Superfund Site from the Air Force.
On several occasions, Andrea Amico has asked the Air Force to investigate whether there is a historical source of water that can be sampled to give us an idea of what PFAS concentrations were in the water source at some time in the past. She has been told that there is a holding tank somewhere on the base that could be used for this purpose. We are requesting assistance from the federal delegation with moving this request forward to action.
We feel that each of these issues requires expedited attention. In the case of Coakley Landfill, we are concerned about whether the full range of PFAS in private drinking water wells has been identified that could be causing cases of sarcomas and cancers in our children and adults. In addition, we are concerned that barriers to progress exist that would limit the ability to protect the citizens of North Hampton, Rye and Greenland from continued migration of PFAS in groundwater that will end up in their private wells. Public water supplies for the Towns of Hampton, Rye and the City of Portsmouth are also threatened by migration of PFAS from Coakley Landfill.
With respect to Pease, we are concerned that barriers exist that will prevent the health study from moving forward in the public exposed to elevated levels in their drinking water. In addition, we are concerned about the potential continued threat of unknown PFAS that have contaminated the water and may not be effectively treated by the Granular Activated Carbon system currently being used and planned for the final remedial system. As recently stated by NHDHHS, the rates of pediatric brain cancers in the 5-town area have increased to much higher than expected rates and we have recently lost another 9-year old child to brain cancer this past week. It is critical that we obtain as much information as we can as quickly as possible so that we can attempt to prevent another child from getting sick.
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The community wants to make sure the water is safe to drink and that the rates of cancers will decline in our children. If we can protect just one more child from getting cancer and effort will be worthwhile.
