WASHINGTON – An amendment
to National Defense Authorization Act includes $323 million for the Air
Force’s Environmental Restoration Fund and that will help pay for
the cleanup of the PFOS issue at the Stewart Airport Air National Guard
Base which has contaminated the City of Newburgh’s Washington Lake
water supply. It has passed in the House, sponsored by Rep. Sean Patrick
Maloney (D, NY-18) and awaits approval in the Senate.
Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand pushed to have the money
included in the legislation.
“Newburgh and Orange County residents didn’t cause this mess
and they shouldn’t shoulder the burdensome costs to clean it up,”
said Schumer.
The two lawmakers will “continue fighting tooth and nail to make
sure that adequate sums are targeted to clean up the toxic mess at Stewart
ASAP.”
In May 2016, Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino turned off the spigot
on Washington Lake when the contamination was discovered. The city has
been getting its water from the New York City Catskill Aqueduct for over
a year with the state Department of Environmental Conservation footing
the bill. The DEC is also in the final stages of installing a high-tech
carbon filtration system at Washington Lake to purify the water there
going forward.
Newburgh city residents and anyone working in the city or who has received
water from the Newburgh city of compromised private wells has been offered
free blood testing to determine if they have had any health effects from
the water.
