Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, a Merrimack-based manufacturing plant at the center of a years-long controversy over industrial pollution, has been approved for a new state operating permit. The permit, which will last until Aug. 31, 2028, comes after criticism from Merrimack residents, town officials and environmental activists, many of whom said the company’s record of pollution disqualified it from expansion.
They pointed specifically at the company's history of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (or PFAS) pollution, which has been linked to cancer and immune system effects. Some even requested the state environmental agency deny the permit altogether.
In 2018, Saint-Gobain was found responsible for polluting hundreds of drinking water wells in Merrimack and surrounding towns, leading residents to have to rely on bottled water, or install equipment to filter their water.
In approving the permit, the director of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services’ Air Division wrote “at present, NHDES does not believe it has a basis or legal authority to deny the application for a permit for the operation of devices at” Saint-Gobain.
Much of the language and regulations laid out in the initial draft permit remain the same in the final permit, despite a number of suggested changes that locals believe would mitigate potential PFAS impacts.
Laurene Allen, a Merrimack resident and one of the founders of Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, said she and her neighbors felt unsatisfied with the state’s justification for approving the permit.
“They only took one piece of what the public said that they decided was in their authority to do,” she said. "The issue is why don't they have the authority."
Catherine Beahm, administrator for the Department of Environmental Services’ Air Division, said the main change in the permit is the annual stack testing requirement. Stack testing is used to measure what chemicals are being released into the environment through emissions.
In the previous version of the permit draft, the state would have allowed Saint-Gobain to reduce stack testing frequency to every three years if they test within 75% or below established limits for the four state-regulated PFAS chemicals.
In the approved permit, the state will maintain the annual stack testing requirement through the duration of the permit.
A spokesperson from Saint-Gobain did not respond to direct questions regarding the permit.
In an email, a spokesperson wrote “Saint-Gobain has received the final permit issued by [the state Department of Environmental Services] for our Merrimack facility and we are currently in the process of reviewing the document.”
Merrimack resident and state representative Nancy Murphy said that state appears more like a permitting agency than an environmental protection agency with this decision.
“We’ve had long-term exposure, and our community is exhibiting health impacts because of this. We don’t have the ability to stop exposure, because we have an industrial polluter in our town. I’m disappointed, but frankly not surprised,” said Murphy.
