MERRIMACK, N.H. – Several Democratic legislators were joined by supporters on Friday morning on the banks of the Souhegan River to provide an update on what has been done to address the presence of per-and-polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS, found throughout the drinking water of several communities in southern New Hampshire.
Merrimack has become an epicenter of those communities due to the former presence of St. Gobain, a French plastics manufacturer that once had a factory in the northeast part of town up until 2023 and has been blamed for contaminating local water supplies.
Although no official number has been ascertained regarding the number of people who have died from PFAS-related health ailments in the area, it was disclosed during the event that Merrimack residents have a 42 percent higher rate of kidney cancer than the U.S. average and numerous Merrimack residents have reported cancer believed to be related to PFAS, such as Democratic State Representative Wendy Thomas.
“We don’t want what happened to Merrimack to happen to any other community,” said Thomas.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set a standard of four parts per trillion as a limit in drinking for PFOA and PFOS, two types of PFAS. According to local activist Laurene Allen, the former St. Gobain site’s groundwater currently stands at 69,500 parts per trillion for PFOA.
Allen added that St. Gobain has proposed a clean up method known as “natural attenuation,” a process that in this case she believes will not meet the guidelines of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, (CERCLA), a piece of legislation best known for the creation of the federal hazardous substance cleanup effort known as “Superfund.”
“What we expect is for (the state) to follow CERCLA standards for cleanup of that site. We have many, many brownfield cleanups in the State of New Hampshire, it’s doable, it’s attainable and it’s the right thing to do,” said Allen. “Does the state of New Hampshire have the will to hold (St. Gobain) to that? Unfortunately, that is a political issue.”
Allen also noted that New Hampshire is far behind other states with shuttered St. Gobain locations, due in part to the election of New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu in 2017 and Republicans retaking the both chambers of the state legislature in 2021.
While speakers at the event noted their desire to work with Republicans to help pass PFAS-related legislation such as HB 1649, which was co-sponsored by several Merrimack-area Republican legislators and was signed into law by Sununu in August, Sununu vetoed another bill (HB 1415) designed to hold Saint Gobain accountable. That bill received unanimous support in the legislature, but Sununu said he vetoed it out of fear that its language was too broad.
State Representative Nancy Murphy (D-Merrimack), one of the HB 1415’s sponsors, said that she will re-introduce the bill during the next term if a veto override cannot be obtained and she gains re-election this fall.
Murphy and other speakers at the event also noted the $110 million already spent to address the impacts of PFAS contamination, money that could have been spent on other things or used to reduce taxes. That amount is also unlikely to be the end of money needed to address the issue.
“I hope that our next governor will stand up for New Hampshire citizens and prioritize people and planet over polluter profits,” said Murphy.