NEWBURGH – The US Department
of Defense is going to begin taking water samples in and around Stewart
Air National Guard Base including Recreation Pond.
The sampling is part of the investigation into contamination of the City
of Newburgh’s water supply from the carcinogenic chemical PFOS from
the Guard base.
The Department of Defense has been reluctant to acknowledge the base is
the cause of the contamination and that it would remediate the problem.
Senator Charles Schumer has been pushing the issue and last week secured
$20 million in legislation to pay for the cleanup.
The senator said while the testing, including at Recreation Pond, is a
“big step forward to bring some relief to Newburgh, the DoD must
thoroughly test and completely clean up the full PFOS mess they created
in this community.” He said the localities must not be stuck with
paying for the testing and remediation process.
