Letter to the Hon. Andrew Wheeler, Admin. of the Environmental Protection Agency - After decades of arsenic seeping into Putnam drinking water & soil, Schumer calls on EPA to put Kent mine on national priorities clean-up list ASAP; senator demands EPA clean up the mess ASAP & finally restore public health and peace of mind in Putnam

Letter

Dear Administrator Wheeler,

I write to urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to officially move the Arsenic Mine Site in Kent, New York to the National Priorities List so that a comprehensive cleanup can begin immediately. The Arsenic Mine Site remains on the proposed National Priorities List (NPL), despite meeting the requirements outlined under Section 300.425(c) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP) for full inclusion on the NPL. It is crucial to the local community's health and safety that the EPA takes decisive action today.

Kent residents have been suffering from arsenic contaminated water for decades. In 1987, the EPA installed a tank for trucked-in water at one Kent residence after discovering that arsenic had leached into their well from the nearby abandoned mine. The problem had gone undiagnosed for so long that three locals had to be hospitalized. This was more than 30 years ago, and yet the EPA continues to drag its feet in listing this toxic site on the NPL. In 2016, the new owner of the aforementioned residence requested the EPA assist in repairing the EPA-installed water system. While performing the repairs, the EPA found sediment testing high in arsenic was entering through one of the tank lids. The EPA's subsequent soil sampling from four residential properties near the mine found arsenic levels as high as 34,250 parts per million (ppm), almost 1000 times higher than EPA's Removal Management Level (RML) of 35 ppm. While EPA has taken some interim actions since this discovery, EPA ordered more testing in 2017 from additional sites around the mine and again found incredibly high arsenic levels in the soil, with one sample reaching 20,600 ppm. This was not enough evidence, so in 2018, a third round of testing was ordered for deeper soil and the results identified arsenic concentrations that were more than 1,500 times higher than EPA's RML.

On April 30, 2019, the EPA's testing prompted the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to issue an urgent public health advisory. The agency concluded that exposure to arsenic in the soil from residential properties near the Arsenic Mine Site posed an immediate and significant threat to human health constituting an urgent public health hazard. The ATSDR went on to recommend that EPA should take short- and long-term action to protect residents, especially children, from arsenic exposure at the mine. The EPA also performed its own analysis and determined that the Arsenic Mine Site presented a significant threat to public health.

According to the EPA's own National Priority List Nomination for the Arsenic Mine Site Memorandum, the EPA has already determined that remediating the Arsenic Mine Site is more appropriate and cost effective than utilizing the EPA's removal authority under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. This means the Arsenic Mine Site has met the qualifications for listing on the NPL as outlined under the Section 300.425(c) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA's memo is dated May 14, 2019, and yet as of today the EPA has yet to list the Arsenic Mine Site on the NPL. Given these facts, it is essential that the EPA formally place the Kent site on the NPL without further delay.

I urge the EPA to immediately move the Arsenic Mine Site in Kent, New York onto the NPL to protect the people of Putnam County from this serious public health hazard. The EPA has spent 30 years dragging its feet on this issue and even one more day is too much for the people of New York.

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