PFAS

Manchester’s wastewater treatment facility received a new permit from federal regulators that requires the facility to monitor for PFAS chemicals, but not to limit their amounts. The Conservation Law Foundation is appealing, arguing the EPA did not do enough to consider PFAS contamination and environmental justice.

A recent college graduate from the town that was once home to the Saint-Gobain plastics facility is working with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services on an experimental trial in myco-remediation, or the use of fungi to clean up pollutants from a contaminated region — a relatively new area of study.

PFAS contamination, in these cases leftover from firefighting foam used by the military, can be a big public health issue. The timeline for cleanup projects to address that contamination is unclear, after a Department of Defense report that seemed to delay projects.

The company is proposing remediation options that include monitoring pollution and limiting the use of the site moving forward, instead of actively cleaning up the PFAS chemicals present at high levels. State regulators are pushing for different options.

In 2016, PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, were discovered in hundreds of wells in the area surrounding the company’s Merrimack facility and many more have been discovered in the years since.

The Conservation Law Foundation says New Hampshire regulators did not consider a state rule meant to protect fish and people from toxic chemicals when approving the permit.

Federal rules to reduce the levels of "forever chemicals" in drinking water are getting delayed.

Laurene Allen, who co-founded the advocacy group Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, has been advocating for remediation and justice in communities impacted by PFAS contamination for almost a decade.

The "forever chemicals" are commonly used to make products stain- and water-resistant.

La ACLU de NH está solicitando récords federales para ver si ICE planea utilizar la prisión de Berlin para tener a los inmigrantes detenidos.