Public Health Progress in New Hampshire
The last few weeks have been eventful in our fight for environmental and public health justice in New Hampshire. There’s much work yet to do but, take-offs and landings on international flights allowed me to pause and reflect on the progress that has been made so far.
Three of my bills have passed through the state legislature and signed by the Governor of New Hampshire; all originated from my work on Governor Hassan’s Task Force to Investigate the Pediatric Cancer Cluster. Two of the bills create commissions to protect our groundwater and drinking water resources and give the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDHHS) the tools they need to identify cancer clusters.
The other bill creates a legislative commission to continue to investigate potential environmental causes for the cancer cases. This is a double CDC-defined pediatric cancer cluster that consists of higher than expected rates of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) in a 5-town area of the New Hampshire seacoast. Additionally, NHDHHS has admitted that the rate of pediatric brain cancer in the same 5-town area is more than 4 times the expected rate.
Within this area there are several potential environmental triggers for the cancers that we know about so far which include: 1) and 2) Former Air Force base (Pease) that contaminated Portsmouth city water and dumped at Coakley Landfill Superfund Site that contaminates three towns historically with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and now perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs); 3) Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant with no real-time monitoring of radiation in the community; 4) Naval Nuclear Submarine Station; and 5) Air emissions from National Gypsum and Schiller coal-fired plant.
Groundwater, drinking water and surface water are contaminated with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) as a result of the Former Pease Air Force base and Coakley Superfund Site Landfill. Coakley Superfund Site is an unlined dump (water can flow away from under the cap) that was capped in the 1990s.
The dump was used for about 30 years by area towns, the Air Force and Navy and a collection of private chemical haulers and generators to get rid of their trash and hazardous waste. Surface water bodies in Rye, Greenland, Portsmouth, North Hampton and Newington are highly contaminated with PFCs because of unmitigated contaminant migration from both environmental problems. Public water supplies in these towns and Hampton, New Hampshire are threatened by migration from these two sites. The PFC levels in surface water bodies that flow from these problems range up to about 200 times the level that the state of Michigan would advise you not to catch and eat the fish. The public and families recreate and fish in these brooks and other bodies that receive flow from them without knowledge of the potential risk.
In recent weeks we have had success on three major fronts. In response to our continued pressure and a letter signed by 11 New Hampshire state legislators, there was a major breakthrough with respect to Coakley Landfill Superfund Site.
At the height of the recreation season on July 7, 2017, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) issued a letter stating that warning signs should be posted to alert the public to potential risks associated with swimming and eating the fish caught in these brooks. The letter also stated that additional work needs to be completed to assess the risks from eating fish caught in the brooks. Importantly, NHDES also confirmed the need to implement a remedial solution that would mitigate the contamination flowing from the Superfund Site. This is the first time the NHDES has admitted definitively the need to address these issues.
On May 30, 2017, the Air Force stated that they would not fund a health study for community members exposed to high levels of PFCs in drinking water from the Haven well. Community members include children who attended two daycares at Former Pease Air Force base. However, as a major advance, Senator Shaheen was able to get $7M to fund the health study through an amendment to the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.
In another area of New Hampshire, public and private drinking water has been contaminated by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics in Merrimack, Litchfield, Bedford and Manchester. Based on health concerns, EPA began requiring companies like Saint Gobain to phase out the older long chain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with newer generation short chain PFC formulations in 2006. Major lawsuits have been filed against DuPont, the manufacturer of the chemicals, the most notable of which is a recent suit estimated at $1B against Chemours by Carney’s Point, New Jersey.
In response to reports from the public in Merrimack, I requested the NHDHHS conduct a cancer cluster investigation in Merrimack to assess whether there are higher rates. The request was approved on Friday. I made a similar request in the seacoast in 2014 which resulted in NHDHHS acknowledgement of a CDC-defined double pediatric cancer cluster in the seacoast area of New Hampshire in 2016.
There are still some major issues that require action with respect to these environmental issues. The blood testing must be completed in Merrimack and Litchfield to assess exposures in the community. The NHDES must compel the responsible party for Coakley Landfill Superfund Site (CLG) to include monitoring of homeowner’s wells that have some of the highest levels of PFCs, not just the ones that don’t, to ensure that the public exposure to contaminated drinking water is being monitored.
But taking time to stop and smell the roses of victory along the way is a good thing. Over the past year through this and legislative work I founded New Hampshire Safe Water Alliance. I made some new and really good like-minded friends. I feel like we are all part of a revolution that is growing in strength and maturity. Now we continue to fight on.
