WASHINGTON – US Senator Charles Schumer, Wednesday, called on the
director of the Air National Guard to release an expedited timeline for
the identification and cleanup of any and all PFOS pollution. The chemical
has been identified as polluting the City of Newburgh’s main water
supply at Washington Lake. As a result, the lake has been taken off-line
and the city is using water from the New York City Catskill Aqueduct.
It is unclear that the chemical has come from the Guard base at Stewart.
Schumer said the Guard has committed to releasing a timeline and to award
a contract for an interim site investigation, but has yet to deliver on
that promise.
“To give certainty and confidence to a very worried community, I
urge that the ANG release a more detailed timeline that explicitly states
what actions will be taken to find the source of contaminants and to remediate
any pollution,” Schumer wrote to Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice.
The senator urged the Guard to “move with all due speed to award
a contract for the modified interim site investigation earlier this the
fall of 2016.”
