Letter to Deborah L. James, Secretary of the Air Force, Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Haven Well Contamination
Letter
The Honorable Deborah L. James
Secretary of the Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670
The Honorable Sylvia Mathews Burwell
Secretary of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20201
The Honorable Gina McCarthy
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Office of the Administrator, 1101A
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Secretary James, Secretary Burwell, and Administrator McCarthy:
We write to express growing concern regarding the inadequate response to the presence of perflourochemicals (PFCs) in the Haven Well in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In April 2014, the Air Force-in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the City of Portsmouth-discovered these chemicals in the well water. A study published in 2013 by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia associated PFC exposure with certain types of cancer. The C8 Science Panel has made similar associations.
The presence of the chemicals in the well in Portsmouth is likely due to the Air Force's use of fire-fighting foam at Pease Air National Guard Base. Those at risk of exposure have requested tests to check their blood serum levels of PFCs. Within the last six years, the Center for Disease Control's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) performed such blood tests on Alabama residents exposed to PFCs after a manufacturer discharged chemicals into a wastewater treatment plant. Despite requests from Portsmouth residents and close attention from our staffs, the Air Force has yet to collaborate effectively with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the City of Portsmouth to ensure that all residents desiring blood tests can have them at no expense to themselves or the State of New Hampshire. Further, the Air Force has not taken affirmative steps to identify and notify the service members and civilians who may have been exposed while stationed at Pease Air Base.
In meetings with our staffs, representatives from ATSDR and the Air Force say that testing is premature and unneeded. First, they claim that neither the EPA nor the scientific community have established cutoff levels for PFC levels in humans. Second, they insist that until the highest risk population group is identified, such testing would not produce meaningful results. Finally, they say PFCs in an individual's blood does not per se correlate to a specific source of exposure.
These arguments are not compelling. While cutoff levels do not exist today, they could likely exist in the future. Immediate testing is important because PFCs do not stay in the blood indefinitely. Unless those who were exposed are tested now, their blood PFC levels cannot be compared against a cutoff level that will be developed in the future. Additionally, broad testing of blood levels in an at-risk population will assist in interpreting data from well testing and aquafer modelling. Awaiting the results of one test before conducting the second only allows more time to pass between the likely exposure and the test results, reducing the credibility of the data.
Therefore, we call on the Air Force, the EPA, and Health and Human Services to provide funding for blood tests for all individuals who were exposed to PFCs from the Haven Well. If additional authorities are required to facilitate such funding, please notify our offices immediately. Further, we call on the Air Force to immediately identify and contact all those who are likely to have been exposed to these chemicals, including individuals stationed at Pease after the date the contamination was introduced into the water.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Shaheen Kelly A. Ayotte
U.S. Senator U.S. Senator
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