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Bennington, Vt.
More than a dozen Vermont residents were unsettled this week when a sheriff's deputy served them with a court summons notifying them they are being sued by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics as part of the company's ongoing litigation with a state regulatory agency.
Roughly 17 people received the summonses, which said "You are being sued. The plaintiff has started a lawsuit against you." The residents were targeted because they provided written comments on a new state regulation setting a drinking water health advisory level of 20 parts per trillion for a toxic manufacturing chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, according to Vermont officials.
The lawsuit centers on Saint-Gobain's challenge of Vermont's advisory level, which the company alleges is unenforceable and not based on science.
Vermont began investigating the levels of PFOA in its public and private water supplies two years ago after the chemical was discovered in water supplies in nearby Hoosick Falls at levels above federal health advisories. The state's focus in Bennington has been private wells near a former Chemfab manufacturing plant that operated in North Bennington that Saint-Gobain purchased in 2000. The plant closed in 2002.
Peter Walke, deputy secretary for Vermont's Agency of Natural Resources, said the company's decision to serve summonses on private residents was an "abnormal step." For the residents, it was "a little scary to be sued by the company that had polluted their drinking water," he added.
Walke said the state agency contacted the residents and assured them that the state of Vermont is the only defendant in the case. The agency also reached out to Saint-Gobain to "let them know we were displeased" the summonses were served on the residents, Walke said.
Many of the residents who were served with the summonses made comments in support of the tighter regulation or critical of the manufacturers blamed for polluting their water supplies.
Dina Silver Pokedoff, a spokesperson for Saint-Gobain, said the company issued the summonses because it believes the state of Vermont required it to serve the court papers to "all interested parties."
On the company's challenge of the state's 20 ppt health advisory, Pokedoff said "it's critical for all involved to participate in the fair rulemaking process and understand the specific science the state has evaluated and vetted that led to setting the limit at this level. ... We respect Vermont's right to set its own PFOA limits in a fair manner and based on sound science, but it's important that the state adopt a standard that is reasonably appropriate, protective, and realistic from a public health standpoint."
Many states are strengthening regulations on perfluorinated chemicals and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year set a health advisory of 70 ppt. New York has not enacted a standard for PFOA but said it will use the EPA's recommendation as guidance. Longterm PFOA exposure has been linked to certain forms of cancer and other serious diseases.
blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @brendan_lyonstu
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