[CPEO-MEF] PFAS, DISPOSAL: "Toxic PFAS Fallout Found Near Incinerator in Upstate New York"

[Lenny Siegel]

TOXIC PFAS FALLOUT FOUND NEAR INCINERATOR IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

By Sharon Lerner
The Intercept
April 28, 2020

INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS known as PFAS have contaminated soil and water near an incinerator in upstate New York that has been burning firefighting foam. The facility is run by Norlite, whose parent company Tradebe contracted with the Department of Defense to burn the foam known as AFFF, as The Intercept reported in January 2019.

The analysis of three soil and four water samples collected near the Norlite incinerator in Cohoes, New York, which appears to be the first environmental testing done near an AFFF incineration site, revealed the presence of 10 PFAS compounds that have been associated with the foam. The levels of the chemicals in soil and water declined with distance from the plant, and measurements of PFOS, a compound that has been widely used in firefighting foam, were twice as high downwind from the facility than upwind of it, according to David Bond, a professor of environmental studies at Bennington College, who conducted the testing with some of his students.

“All of this provides a strong indication of airborne deposition of PFAS from ineffective incineration of AFFF at the Norlite facility,” said Bond.

Despite evidence that burning the firefighting foam posed health risks, the military  has turned to incineration of as a way of disposing of millions of gallons of AFFF in recent years. The foam, which has been used for decades to put out jet fuel fires, long contained both PFOA and PFOS, as The Intercept reported in 2015. Widespread use of the foam that contained these extremely persistent chemicals, which are associated with kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and many other health problems, resulted in contamination of drinking water across the country. In 2016, the Department of Defense decided to stop using PFOS and PFOA in AFFF, but continued using a newer formulation of the foam that contains closely related compounds in the same class.

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For the entire article, see
https://theintercept.com/2020/04/28/toxic-pfas-afff-upstate-new-york/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org