New York U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is calling on the Air Force to prioritize PFAS cleanup at Stewart Air National Guard base in Orange County.
Schumer has written to U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett after learning that the Air Force may not include Stewart Air National Guard Base in its next round of priority cleanup sites. Schumer says this is because of a bureaucratic internal policy penalizing Newburgh for no longer using Washington Lake as its drinking water source. PFOS contamination in the lake came to light in the spring of 2016, and some of the highest concentrations were found in outfalls of the nearby base. The city now draw its drinking water from the Catskill Aqueduct. Schumer says the cleanup must be prioritized in the next round of Remedial Investigation funding.