WASHINGTON – Top officials
of the Air Force and Department of Defense will be coming to Newburgh
to meet with residents over the issue of the Stewart Air National Guard’s
contamination of the Washington Lake water supply.
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force John Henderson and Assistant Secretary
of Defense Robert McMahon will visit the Guard base, which straddles the
Newburgh/New Windsor town line, and meet with residents and local leaders
to hear their concerns.
Newburgh city officials pulled the plug on Washington Lake back in May
2016 when the carcinogenic chemicals PFOS and PFOA were discovered in
the water.
Since then, the city has been receiving its water from the New York City
Catskill Aqueduct with the state picking up the cost.
The Guard base has yet to stop the pollution of the streams that feed
the reservoir not have it begun any remediation. Congress has secured
the funding to, at the very least, start the cleanup, which has yet to
begin.
