We Are All “Invested”
I am a State Representative in the House of Representatives in New Hampshire. As such, I receive a whopping $100 per year, a state license plate, mileage reimbursement (for days where there I attend committee or House sessions) and an EzPass to cover my tolls.
I decided to spend my $200 (and then some) earned from my term on lab testing for surface water samples from brooks that originate next to Coakley Landfill Superfund Site in Greenland, New Hampshire. I also worked to get others to donate money now totaling $2,500 to sample 3 locations in Berry’s Brook, Bailey’s Brook and Little River. Conservation Law Foundation helped me by accepting the donations and conducting the sampling with no labor cost.
Why did I do this? Because the State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services refused to do it or compel Coakley Landfill Group (the responsible party) to do it after repeated requests.
Berry’s Brook flows through Greenland, Rye and Portsmouth and eventually feeds into Odiorne Point in Little Harbor and the Piscataqua River. Berry’s Brook is listed as a Category 5 surface water body by the USEPA which means that it is impaired or threatened for one or more designated use due to pollution.
Very high levels of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) were found in the samples collected from Berry’s Brook. In fact, one PFC, PFNA, was detected at the third highest concentration detected anywhere in the world to date. This PFC has recently been identified separately by the New Jersey Water Quality Institute for its toxic effects in humans and they issued a separate, proposed, drinking water standard for PFNA.
About a month later, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services collected samples from 5 locations in Berry’s Brook, several of which were the same sampled by Conservation Law Foundation and were even higher concentrations still.
One warm winter day I happened to visit near Coakley Landfill and saw a young boy playing in the stream with his dad. The Pan Am rail bed located on the west edge of the landfill was flooded with contaminated surface water that flows down the rail bed like a stream. People run, take their dogs and ride bikes on the rail bed.
We know from studies that another PFC, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) concentrates in fish tissue and the State of Michigan issues a do not eat advisory when surface water concentrations are two orders of magnitude lower than what was detected in Berry’s Brook.
What has happened since the results were received? Nothing. No warning about children playing in the brook or people eating fish taken from the brook. Not a peep. Guess I must pull my wallet out again and have some bake sales.
To be continued….
