[CPEO-BIF] Hopewell Junction, New York: "Feeling of abandonment by officials as lawsuit fails"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Lingering toll of a toxic legacy
Feeling of abandonment by officials as lawsuit fails

By Brianna Snyder 
Albany Times-Union (NY)
July 1, 2016

It's been 13 years since Hopewell Junction resident Debra Hall was told by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that her water was contaminated with something called TCE, or trichloroethylene — a tongue-twisting name for a toxic chemical that Hall easily pronounces.

The chemical can be lethal for humans exposed to it, including causing problems with liver, immune and kidney functions, as well as several types of cancers.

For residents in eastern Rensselaer County, who learned during the past 18 months their water supplies are polluted with another toxic chemical, PFOA, the situation in the small Dutchess County hamlet provides insight on what can happen years after the attention has faded.

The source of the Hopewell Junction contamination is thought to be Hopewell Precision, a former metal-equipment manufacturer about a mile away from Hall's neighborhood in southern Dutchess County. Hopewell Precision was investigated for dumping TCE - used in degreasers and cleaning solvents - on the grounds from 1977 to 1980, but the Department of Environmental Conservation dropped the case in 1994 for lack of evidence.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-local/article/Lingering-toll-of-a-toxic-legacy-8336775.php

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

_______________________________________________
Brownfields mailing list
Brownfields@lists.cpeo.org
http://lists.cpeo.org/listinfo.cgi/brownfields-cpeo.org