New York state and local officials have called repeatedly on the U.S. Department of Defense to take responsibility for cleaning up PFOS contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh. Just Friday, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer did so in front of a temporary filtration system. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne spoke with Newburgh City Manager Michael Ciaravino, who stood alongside Schumer Friday, about his concerns.
Both Schumer and Ciaravino allege the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force are using delaying tactics to avoid paying for the cleanup up PFOS drinking water contamination that came to light a year ago in Newburgh. Some of the highest concentrations of PFOS the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation has detected have been found in outfalls from Stewart Air National Guard base, including Recreation Pond. Here’s Ciaravino.