THE PAUL PLANTE STORY

[thelivyjr]

8 MARCH 2023

Brittany O'Brien-Drake
Project Manager
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Division of Environmental Remediation
625 Broadway
Albany, New York 12233-7017

Re: Algonquin School Assessment Area, Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County

Dear Ms. O'Brien-Drake:

With regard to your recent statements to concerned Poestenkill residents that sometime in the next several years, perhaps before the end of the decade, if not slightly after, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation was going to get around to putting together a report on the PFAS in Poestenkill's drinking water, with regard to that alleged report, I'm not sure if you are aware of it, but some nine (9) months ago now in June of 2022, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation posted on its official website a 20 June 2022 report of Barton & Loguidice Geologists on behalf of Waste Management wherein it was made patently clear that between 2018 and June of 2022, by a CONSERVATIVE estimate, some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station are estimated to have been discharged to the environment in Poestenkill.

Those, Ms. O'Brien-Drake, are your agency's own official numbers that cannot be argued with.

By way of example, IF the leachate acted like water, an inch of water on an acre of ground would be 27,154 gallons, so between 2018 and present, by a CONSERVATIVE estimate, enough leachate was emitted from the Poestenkill transfer station to cover an acre of ground with 7.6 inches of leachate, assuming it acted like water.

Consider that according to the DEC's own official records published on the internet, there is one spot on the Algonquin School property SE of the school and south of the transfer station with a measured concentration of 47 ppt of PFOA by the DEC's own official figures, while the leachate had a measured concentration of 100 ppt of PFOA.

Now, this is really all quite simple to figure out, and it certainly does not require a Ph.D. or even a college level education to figure out, it is that basic, especially when we are dealing with official numbers from the DEC itself.

So why then is it taking the DEC years to figure this out?

We were told by DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar in a Spectrum News 1 article titled "Poestenkill residents demand answers on contaminated water" by Spencer Conlin on January 27, 2022 that “It’s a science-based, very methodical process that we have underway right now,” and “We’re bringing the best scientific minds in the state to the community to try and understand this issue.”

So with all these "best scientific minds in the state" involved, one would think that at least one of them would be able to read and understand and comprehend the fact that some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA imported into the Poestenkill transfer station according to the DEC's own figures remain unaccounted for, because it didn't go into the holding tank.

So where then did it go?

According to DEC records, you personally have been to the site.

Did you by chance happen to come across some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station laying around somewhere these?

If you didn't, then where on earth could it have disappeared to?

The moon?

Venus?

Outer Mongolia, maybe?

So how many more years do you think we in Poestenkill will have to wait to find out that answer?

Please let us know.

Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter, I remain

Sincerely,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE

[thelivyjr]

10 MARCH 2023

Dr. James McDonald MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner, New York State Department of Health
Corning Tower Building
5 Empire State Plz.
Albany, New York 12237

RE: The Rensselaer County Health District; A simple question: Why is the Deputy Rensselaer County Executive also the Public Health Director of the Rensselaer County Department of Health?

Dear Commissioner McDonald:

As a resident of the Rensselaer County Health District, which district was established in 1946 by will of the voters of Rensselaer County at that time, for over seventy (70) years now who is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of New York to safeguard life, health and property and who is further qualified by exam to practice at the associate level as a public health engineer in New York, where the term public health engineer shall mean a person who applies engineering principles for the detection, evaluation, control and management of those factors in the environment which influence the public's health, my question to you as New York State Health Commissioner is quite simple, to wit:

Why is the Deputy Rensselaer County Executive in Rensselaer County, a political appointee of the Rensselaer County Executive who himself is not a doctor, nor does he have any medical or public health credentials, now serving in the capacity of Rensselaer County Public Health Director?

Why is the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which thanks to the New York State Department of Health itself has been corrupt and worthless in terms of providing public health protection and promotion since 1977, under the control of the Rensselaer County Executive as opposed to a Board of Health?

As to the intentional sabotaging and systematic dismantling of the system of public health protection and promotion in the Rensselaer County Health District coupled with the corrupting of the Rensselaer County Department of Health, in 1977, and this is a matter of public record, the NYSDOH, your agency, took a man named Kenneth Van Praag, the secretary of the state Republican party who possessed no medical or public health credentials, experience or knowledge, and made him into a medical doctor and then installed him as a Deputy Commissioner of Health in the Rensselaer County Department of Health to begin the process of intentionally sabotaging public health protection in the Rensselaer County Health District by the systematic dismantling of the system of public health protection in the Rensselaer County Health District in the name of “developer/business friendly,” with the success of the intentional sabotaging and systematic dismantling being captured succinctly in a March 27, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning a federal Hobbs Act investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health, wherein was stated as follows concerning the unqualified success of those efforts to corrupt the Rensselaer County Health Department and thereby deprive the residents of the Rensselaer County Health District of the honest services of the Rensselaer County Department of Health, to wit:

According to (Dr. Axelrod), the results of the State's investigation were that New York State laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, Rensselaer County laws were not being followed by the Rensselaer County Health Department, and there was very little “enforcement activity” even in the face of illegal sales.

(Dr. Axelrod) advised that the Rensselaer County Health Department's oversight of realty subdivisions in that county is “unsatisfactory.”

(Dr. Axelrod) also faulted the State of New York Health Department for not auditing Rensselaer County's program.

(Dr. Axelrod) advised that he would not expect to find a worse county in the region (the Capital District region which comprises 17 counties).

According to (Dr. Axelrod), the object of any county health department is to protect the public and not to facilitate development.

In the case of Rensselaer County, it appears that the Rensselaer County Health Department was in business to facilitate developers and development rather than to protect the public.

end quotes

That was in 1989, and thanks to your agency burying that report, thirty-four (34) years later, nothing has changed with regard to the Rensselaer County Health Department being in business to facilitate developers and development, and protect powerful corporate polluters, rather than to protect the public.

With regard to the key role your agency played in the corrupting of the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which acts of corrupting by your agency set in motion all that was to follow with respect to the intentional sabotaging and systematic dismantling of the system of public health protection and promotion in the Rensselaer County Health District that leads us up to today, where we now have the Deputy Rensselaer County Executive also serving as Public Health Director of the Rensselaer County Health Department, which makes a complete and total mockery of the concept of public health protection and promotion in the Rensselaer County Health District, in his official March 15, 1989 Report on Misfeasance and Malfeasance in the Rensselaer County Department of Health, then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod stated as follows at page 9 of his report, under the heading “Discussion,” to wit:

Finally, the State Health Department has not exercised appropriate oversight of County performance.

Although the Public Health Law provides for a great deal of County autonomy with respect to the subdivision and individual sewage programs, the Department is charged by PHL section 202.1(a) to “supervise the work and activities of local boards of health and health officers” throughout the state.

Clearly, since 1978, the Department has failed to identify the extent to which the County programs were deviating from its own standards.

end quotes

Being the one whose internal investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health provided Dr. Axelrod with the evidence he needed to base that statement on in his March 15, 1989 Report, I can attest to the undisputable and uncontroverted fact that the State Health Department was very well aware of the extent to which the County programs were deviating from its own standards, because the State Health Department set that process of corrupting the Rensselaer County Department of Health up in or about 1977 in the name of "business/developer/polluter-friendly," when the State Health Department made Kenneth Van Praag, a political hack, into a medical doctor and installed him in the Rensselaer County Department of Health as a Deputy Health Commissioner so he could begin from within, with the approval of the State Health Department, the intentional sabotaging and systematic dismantling of the system of public health protection in the Rensselaer County Health District that resulted in the corrupt and totally worthless county health department described so well in the March 27, 1989 Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning a federal Hobbs Act investigation of corruption in the Rensselaer County Department of Health.

And here we are, all these years later, and still the State Health Department continues to give its approval to the political control of the Rensselaer County Department of Health by the office of Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin that denies us of the honest services of a non-politically corrupt and politically independent health department under the control of a Board of Health and medical doctors, and a non-corrupt State Health Department, as well.

Why, Mr. Health Commissioner?

Children in the town of Poestenkill drinking contaminated water would like to know, and quite frankly, as a responsible elder in the community, I would as well.

Thanking you in advance for your prompt reply, I remain

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE

[thelivyjr]

23 MARCH 2023

Dr. James McDonald MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner, New York State Department of Health
Corning Tower Building
5 Empire State Plz.
Albany, New York 12237

RE: The Rensselaer County Health District; The Poestenkill PFAS Whitewash; Three simple questions: Why is the New York State Department of Health incompetent, why is the New York State Department of Health a Sociopathic Liar, and why does the New York State Department of Health act to protect politically-powerful polluters instead of protecting and promoting the health of the residents of the Rensselaer County Health District?

Dear Commissioner McDonald:

As a follow-up to mine of 10 March 2023 where we talked about how Rensselaer County Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas was rewarded by the Rensselaer County legislature with the addition of Deputy Rensselaer County Executive added to her title for doing what is known in Rensselaer County as “making her political bones,” which she did by joining with her “partners” the New York State Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the town of Poestenkill to cover over the source of the PFAS in Poestenkill’s drinking water and the drinking water of the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill in order to protect a politically-powerful polluter in Poestenkill, this after her Associate Public Health Engineer, Richard Elder, NYSPE, was quoted in a Times Union story on September 22, 2021 titled “Rensselaer County expands PFOA testing in Poestenkill” by Kenneth C. Crowe II as stating that Wachunas and the Rensselaer County Department of Health were not trying to identify a source of the PFOA contamination, a task Wachunas performed admirably, as a resident of the Rensselaer County Health District affected by the on-going gross negligence of the Rensselaer County Department of Health that allowed this contamination to happen to my drinking water supply, I have three relevant and pertinent questions for you as New York State Health Commissioner with a duty pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 206(1)(a) to take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto and exercise the functions, powers and duties of the department prescribed by law; and § 206(1)(b), to exercise general supervision over the work of all local boards of health and health officers, unless otherwise provided by law, which questions are presented in the following order, to wit:

I: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH INCOMPETENT?

According to New York State Public Health Law § 201(1)(l), the New York State Department of Health shall, as provided by law, supervise and regulate the sanitary aspects of water supplies and sewage disposal and control the pollution of waters of the state; and pursuant to § 201(1)(n), shall exercise control over and supervise the abatement of nuisances affecting or likely to affect public health; and § 201(1)(o), shall advise any local unit of government and the public health officials thereof within the state, in the performance of their official duties and regulate the financial assistance granted by the state in connection with all public health activities.

In this specific case of the contamination of the water supply of the town of Poestenkill to include that of the Algonquin Middle School with PFAS imported into the NYSDEC-regulated Poestenkill transfer station between 2018 and the present, the Algonquin Middle School is served by Public Water Supply NY4117257, a New York State Health Department-regulated Non-transient non-community water system serving 1000 persons at the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill, founded 1967, which system is a Public Water Supply pursuant to Part 5 of the State Sanitary Code.

When I put in a Freedom of Information request to your agency on January 12, 2022 requesting "(A)ll application documents submitted to the DOH by the Averill Park School District in 1967 pursuant to Part 5 for Public Water Supply NY4117257 to serve the Algonquin School in Poestenkill including the well log for well No. 1 and well No. 2, as well as any and all and engineering reports required by part 5 for a public water supply," the response I received from your agency stated "(P)lease be advised that after conducting a diligent search, no records responsive to your request have been located," which is a clear indication of just how slipshod, lackadaisical and incompetent an operation the New York State Department of Health really is, that they have no records in their files for a public water supply serving a school full of children that they are responsible for the regulation of.

It truly boggles the mind of this professional engineer/associate level public health engineer who blew the whistle on corruption in your agency to then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod in 1989 how the New York State Department of Health could create a public water supply to serve a school full of children in Poestenkill and then not have a single clue as to what the public water supply is actually comprised of, starting with the well logs.

Which raises the pertinent question of why is the New York State Department of Health so negligent and incompetent?

The New York State Department of Health clearly failed in the case of the Algonquin School in Poestenkill to supervise and regulate the sanitary aspects of water supplies.

The New York State Department of Health clearly failed in the case of the contamination of the drinking water in Poestenkill with PFAS to control the pollution of waters of the state.

And in the case of the contamination of the drinking water in Poestenkill with PFAS, the New York State Department of Health clearly failed to exercise control over and supervise the abatement of nuisances in Poestenkill affecting or likely to affect public health.

Further, in the case of the contamination of the drinking water in Poestenkill with PFAS, the New York State Department of Health clearly failed to advise any local unit of government and the public health officials thereof within the state, in the performance of their official duties.

Instead, as is patently obvious with respect to this amateur-hour whitewash/cover-up your agency was involved in with its “partners” the Rensselaer County Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the town of Poestenkill to protect a politically-powerful polluter in Poestenkill, your agency did what it has proven quite proficient at – it looked the other way and saw nothing at all!

We in Poestenkill who now have water supplies contaminated with PFAS want to know why.

II: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH A SOCIOPATHIC LIAR?

In addition to participating in this amateur-hour whitewash/cover-up your agency was involved in with its “partners” the Rensselaer County Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the town of Poestenkill to protect a politically-powerful polluter in Poestenkill where your agency did what it has proven quite proficient at, looking the other way and seeing nothing at all, it also chose to lie to us, as well, as the record clearly shows, to wit:

Update on Algonquin Middle School Water Tests:

From Bob Brunet – Poestenkill Water Manager

In our last update we quoted numerous NYSDOH statements which reassured us that the school’s water “does not pose a significant health risk” and “Your water continues to be acceptable for all uses”.

This is a follow-up to our February 27, 2021 report on the situation involving the Algonquin Middle School water tests.

But now we want to hopefully alleviate some anxiety by presenting PFOA facts regarding our situation from the NYSDOH.

The statements which the NYSDOH provided are very important.

Briefly, they are:

* Consuming drinking water with PFOA at or somewhat above the MCL does not pose a significant health risk.

* Your water continues to be acceptable for all uses.

end quotes

Your agency has no proof or evidence that consuming drinking water with PFOA at or somewhat above the MCL does not pose a significant health risk, and yet, despite that lack of proof, the New York State Department of Health chose to lie to us, instead, which is something only a sociopathic liar would do, where a sociopathic liar is the most damaging type of liars because they lie on a routine basis without conscience and often without reason, as appears to be the case here.

And not only did the New York State Department of Health choose to lie to us about the supposed health benefits of drinking water with PFOA in it, the New York State Department of Health also chose to not send out a "DO NOT DRINK" Water Advisory as was the case in Westchester County, which “DO NOT DRINK” Water Advisory would have exposed the lies of the New York State Department of Health as were quoted on the Poestenkill website, to wit:

State and County Health Departments Issue "DO NOT DRINK" Water Advisories for Two Westchester County Schools

New York State Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation Launch Investigation to Identify Potential Sources of Contamination

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 17, 2021) - The New York State Department of Health, in coordination with the Westchester County Health Department, today recommended "Do Not Drink" advisories for the Pequenakonck Elementary School in North Salem, New York and Meadow Pond Elementary in South Salem, New York.

The advisories, issued out of an abundance of caution, direct the school communities to stop using water for drinking, cooking and food preparation.

Bottled water is being provided by both schools and the State stands ready to assist the schools and the county where needed.

Water continues to be acceptable for uses such as handwashing and various cleaning activities including washing dishes.

The "Do Not Drink" advisories were issued following the very recent discovery of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in the schools' water systems at levels above New York's recently adopted, and highly protective, Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) of 10 parts per trillion, each, for PFOA and PFOS.

Potential Health Effects of PFOA and PFOS

PFOA and PFOS are part of a group of man-made, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances found in a wide range of consumer products such as cookware, cleaning products, food packaging, stain repellants, and firefighting foam, among others.

The available information on the health effects associated with PFOA and PFOS, like many chemicals, comes mostly from studies of high-level exposure in animals.

Less is known about the chances of health effects occurring from lower levels of exposure, such as from drinking the schools' water.

end quotes

If in Westchester County, the New York State Department of Health was ignorant of the chances of health effects occurring from lower levels of exposure to PFOA and PFOS, such as from drinking the schools' water, then how was it certain, at the same time, that drinking water in Poestenkill with PFOA in it did not pose a significant health risk?

If out of an abundance of caution in Westchester County, the New York State Department of Health directed the school communities to stop using water for drinking, cooking and food preparation, then why didn’t the New York State Department of Health have that same abundance of caution in Poestenkill in the case of the Algonquin Middle School?

And as we see from the following article from WNYT-TV titled "Rensselaer County leaders discuss chemical found during water tests" on September 22, 2021, the New York State Department of Health was still lying to us about the effects of drinking water with PFOA in it, to wit:

POESTENKILL - According to both DEC and the State Department of Health, contaminant levels of PFOA discovered in private wells of two properties adjacent to the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill do not pose a significant health risk.

end quotes

Based on what evidence, Mr. Commissioner?

What evidence is your agency possessed of that it can with confidence tell us that contaminant levels of PFOA discovered in private wells of two properties adjacent to the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill do not pose a significant health risk?

Because without evidence to support that statement, your agency is nothing more than an untrustworthy liar unfit to be called a “health department,” which brings us to my third question, to wit:

III: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH A PROTECTOR OF POLLUTERS?

The PFAS in Poestenkill’s drinking water was discovered in January of 2021 when the Algonquin Middle School tested positive and above the MCL’s for PFAS, and immediately, the cover-up involving the New York State Department of Health began with no investigation despite the regulations in the New York State Sanitary Code requiring such investigation to be made, and there was essentially a news black-out so that residents of Poestenkill who had no children attending Algonquin School were in the dark until in or about August of 2021, at which time I posted a Letter To The Editor of the Advertiser on August 26, 2021 titled On PFOA in Poestenkill, wherein was stated as follows, to wit:

And as we go from floods in Sand Lake to PFOA in the groundwater serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill, are we looking at another cover-up or whitewash in the making?

And here I am referring specifically to an “Update on Algonquin Middle School Water Tests” from Bob Brunet – Poestenkill Water Manager, on the Poestenkill website, a propaganda channel, where we were first informed thusly: In our last update we quoted numerous NYSDOH statements which reassured us that the school’s water “does not pose a significant health risk” and “Your water continues to be acceptable for all uses”.

Speaking as a qualified associate level public health engineer, that right there is the language of a cover-up or whitewash, to tell us that a chemical that does not belong in the groundwater in the first place does not pose a significant health risk.

Given that Mr. Brunet is not a public health engineer, or qualified public health official, he has no rational basis to support those assurances when the public health standard says there should be no PFOA at all in that water, and the fact of the existence of the PFOA in the water is proof positive of negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of public officials, which takes us us to this further evidence of a whitewash in the making: "During the timeframe since our last update, Supervisor Keith Hammond, Deputy Town Supervisor Eric Wohlleber, and I have been actively working with the RCDOH and the NYSDOH to further insure that the wells nearby the school are providing safe water for our residents."

"As a result of this activity we have recently received a commitment from Justin Deming, Chief, Regions 4, 5 & 8 -NYSDOH, Bureau Of Environmental Exposure Investigation, that the State, with our involvement and the involvement of the RCDOH, will test at least 12 home wells in the area to reinforce that the water is safe to consume."

In other words, reinforce a falsehood, which is the essence of a whitewash, to protect the polluters!

end quotes

Right from the very beginning, in January of 2021, it was obvious, given its documented history of spills, that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation-permitted Poestenkill transfer station was the source of the PFAS, which statement is supported by a Report posted on the website of New York Department of Health’s “partner,’ the NYSDEC, on June 20, 2022 wherein it was made patently clear that between 2018 and June of 2022, by a conservative estimate, some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station were discharged to the environment in Poestenkill.

If one stands in front of the Algonquin School and looks northeastward, right across the intersection of Rt. 66 and 351, one can’t help but see the NYSDEC-permitted Poestenkill transfer station, with its documented history of spills, sitting on the high ground with respect to the location of the school, and if one was diligent, and actually bothered to do a file check to check the records, it was patently clear that the NYSDEC-permitted transfer station was the source.

To admit that, of course, was to make it clear that the NYSDEC itself was negligent, something the NYSDEC has perfected into an art form, as well as the politically-powerful operator of the transfer station, so hush was the word.

Public pressure, however, was growing in Poestenkill to find the source, so the town of Poestenkill and its partners the NYSDEC and the NYSDOH made a decision to mislead the residents of Poestenkill by putting on a traditional “dog-and-pony” show, with officials of the town of Poestenkill, the NYSDEC and NYSDOH forming a panel to tell lies to the people of Poestenkill while reinforcing each other’s lies, which brings us to a WNYT-TV article titled "Poestenkill residents decry 'slow progress' in PFOA probe" on September 28, 2021, where the NYSDOH played a starring role, to wit:

POESTENKILL - With chemicals in their drinking water, the angst came bubbling to the surface during a standing room only meeting Monday night in Poestenkill.

Unlike PFOA discoveries in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, which was linked to industrial sources, the origin in Poestenkill remains unknown.

"We should recognize that you're not always going to find an industrial source," said Gary Ginsburg of the state Department of Health.

end quotes

That statement was and is patently absurd, given the presence of the Poestenkill transfer station with its documented record of spills in plain sight on high ground right across from the Algonquin School, and yet, it was delivered with a straight face by Dr. Ginsburg, who directs the NYS DOH Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a Center which administers and coordinates water supply protection across NYS, a sick joke that given the contamination of our drinking water, which statement is a testament to his prowess as a prevaricator.

And there the tone was set for the amateur-hour whitewash which has proceeded from that point to the present, with all of the “partners,” including Dr. Ginsburg still not having a clue, in their words as to the source of the PFAS, as we were told by DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar in a Spectrum News 1 article titled "Poestenkill residents demand answers on contaminated water" by Spencer Conlin on January 27, 2022 that “It’s a science-based, very methodical process that we have underway right now,” and “We’re bringing the best scientific minds in the state to the community to try and understand this issue.”

Logically speaking, with all these "best scientific minds in the state" involved, including Dr. Ginsburg, one would think that at least one of them, starting with Dr. Ginsburg, would be able to read the June 20, 2022 Report on the NYSDEC website and understand and comprehend the fact that some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA imported into the Poestenkill transfer station according to the DEC's own figures remain unaccounted for, because it didn't go into the holding tank.

But these alleged "best scientific minds in the state," including Dr. Ginsburg, don’t know and won’t know the source of the PFAS because they are protecting the source as we see in an Albany, New York Times Union article "Poestenkill receives $3.3 million state water grant but still doesn't know PFOA source" by Kenneth C. Crowe II on November 8, 2022, this being one hundred forty-one (141) days after the “partners,” including the NYSDOH, were appraised that the source was the Poestenkill transfer station, to wit:

POESTENKILL – The town has received a state grant that will pay for 60 percent of the estimated $5.5 million cost to create a municipal water district that would serve the area around Algonquin Middle School where PFOA/PFOS contamination has been found in local wells.

The source of the contamination has yet to be discovered and testing is still taking place.

Hammond said he has been in contact with the state and the agencies are continuing to work on the contamination issues.

He said he doesn’t anticipate there will be an industrial source for the contamination.

end quotes

He doesn’t anticipate an industrial source for the contamination will be found precisely because the “partners,” including the NYSDOH, are covering up the source.

The residents of Poestenkill with PFAS in our drinking water would like to know why your agency is bending over backwards to protect a politically-powerful polluter instead of acting to promote the health of the residents of Poestenkill, and hopefully, we can count on you to provide is with that answer forthwith.

Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter, I remain

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE, Assoc. P.H. Eng.

[thelivyjr]

"EPA says no amount of PFAS is safe in drinking water, proposes tougher regulations"

Rick Karlin, Albany, New York Times Union

March 14, 2023

HOOSICK FALLS- Federal regulators Tuesday called for stringent new limits on PFAS substances -- including a variant that a decade ago threw this Rensselaer County community into a health crisis over water pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency said that no amount of PFAS or polyfluoroalkyl substances is safe for drinking water.

They are calling for a maximum legal level, which represents the limit of enforceability, of no more than 4 parts per trillion.

That’s less than half of New York’s existing limit of 10 parts per trillion and far tougher than the existing federal cap of 70 parts per trillion.

“It’s welcome news for the rest of the country."

"Unfortunately we were almost the guinea pigs to get it to that level,” said Michael Hickey, whose father John died of cancer.

The cancer that afflicted Hickey, as well as maladies such as thyroid problems that hit other Hoosick Falls residents, prompted Michael Hickey to begin prodding state officials to investigate the public water supply.

Hoosick Falls’ water was found to be contaminated with high levels of PFOA, a PFAS variation, coming from several plastics and chemical plants in the area, including the Saint-Gobain plastics factory where John Hickey had worked.

What ensued was a years-long saga in which townspeople and environmental activists finally convinced the state departments of Health and Environmental Conservation to investigate and then take measures to contain the problem.

Currently, Hoosick Falls has a carbon charcoal filtration system for its water and officials plan to find an alternate, permanent water supply away from the polluted groundwater wells.

There remains some outstanding litigation remaining from the lawsuits, and $90 million in settlements, that resulted from the contamination.

Chemical ubiquity

PFAS over the last decade also has emerged as one of the newest, and most vexing threats to public water supplies due to its prevalence and chemistry.

They are known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and in bloodstreams of those who are exposed.

Hoosick Falls residents, for instance, had levels in their blood many times as high as most people.

PFAS were widely used in applications ranging from the making of Teflon and other non-stick surfaces, to firefighting foam, food packaging and water-resistant outerwear.

The Hoosick Falls area, near the Vermont border, was once known as “Teflon Alley” due to the number of plants that used PFAS.

In addition to the problems at Hoosick Falls, PFAS also drew national attention over the last decade when Robert Bilott, an Ohio lawyer, won a series of class action awards over PFAS chemicals that DuPont had dumped in a West Virginia community.

Due to the widespread use of PFAS, up to 200 million people in the U.S. get at least some of the substance in tap water, according to estimates.

As the EPA began researching PFAS it concluded that the substance could be harmful at almost any level.

Going forward, the EPA will have a 60-day comment period and a public hearing on the proposed new limits.

That's expected to be in place by year's end.

New standards cheered

News of the tougher recommended standards was welcome by environmentalists, especially those who had long battled for action in Hoosick Falls.

“It’s a great thing,” Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator, state official and longtime activist, said in an email.

“PFAS in drinking water became a national issue when the Hoosick Falls situation became public,” she said.

"Everyone who wants to drink clean water should be overjoyed at EPA's announcement."

"This is the national leadership on drinking water safety that we’ve been waiting for,” Robert Hayes, director of Clean Water for Environmental Advocates NY, said in a statement.

“Today's historic victory is the result of years-long advocacy by PFAS-impacted communities and scientists, who demanded that our government stop exposure to these cancer-causing chemicals.”

Since the problems in Hoosick Falls emerged, PFAS contamination in other forms and other communities have come up in the Capital Region, the state and nation.

In Cohoes, worries emerged three years ago that the Norlite aggregate plant and incinerator was burning PFAS that the company had collected, legally, from unused firefighting foam in fire houses and military installations across the East Coast.

Incinerating PFAS there has since been banned by law.

And PFAS remains in the groundwater at locations across the state.

“I am worried,” said Mary Finneran, a Cairo, Greene County, resident who says PFAS substances have seeped into the town’s well water supply from a training facility for firefighters on the town’s outskirts.

“Every time when I go into my grocery store to buy my big bottle of water I see a lot of people buying water,” said Finneran.

But not everyone is thrilled with the tougher proposed regulations.

Industry skeptical

As soon as the EPA released its plan in an online bulletin, the American Chemistry Council pointed out questions over how the EPA arrived at the 4 parts per trillion recommendation.

“New peer-reviewed research also calls into question the basis for EPA’s overly conservative approach,” the organization said in a statement.

It noted that many of the most-used PFAS were phased out of production by their members about eight years ago.

“These low limits will likely result in billions of dollars in compliance costs."

"The proposals have important implications for broader drinking water policy priorities and resources, so it’s critical that EPA gets the science right.”

Challenges ahead

The cost of revamping water systems or finding new water sources to eliminate PFAS will be a hurdle, acknowledged Hickey.

That’s especially true for the dozens of military bases where PFAS firefighting foam was frequently used, both for fires and for practice.

Meanwhile, in Hoosick Falls, the state and Honeywell and Saint-Gobain -- the two companies that emitted PFAS in the area -- have made legal agreements to fund a new water system.

Engineers are looking at well water sources about a mile outside of the village of 3,500, said Mayor Rob Allen.

He said the decision to lower levels was gratifying and he hopes it becomes law with minimal delay.

“It’s huge."

"It’s vital that the process is seen through,” Allen said.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 839125.php

[thelivyjr]

New York State Department of Health

April 18, 2023

Dear Mr. Plante:

I am responding to your letter, dated March 10, 2023, regarding your questions about the statutes governing the Rensselaer County Health District.

First, thank you for your interest as a concerned citizen of Rensselaer County.

With the assistance of our Division of Legal Affairs, I have answered your questions below.

Please be assured that Mary Fran Wachunas is indeed qualified to serve as the public health director for Rensselaer County Department of Health and she has done so for many years with an exemplary record.

All public health directors of all local health departments in New York State are fully vetted by the State and their qualifications are reviewed.

The Rensselaer County Executive, as you correctly note, is not a physician, nor by statute is one required to be a physician.

In fact, most county executives are not physicians.

Also by statute, the local health department public health director is not required to be a physician.

However, every county health department with a public health director in New York State must serve alongside a physician medical consultant as noted in 10 NYCRR § 11.182.

In Rensselaer County, Dr. Kathleen Crisafulli is the medical consultant.

Dr. Crisafulli and Director Wachunas have worked closely for many years and Dr. Crisafulli has provided strong medical support to the Rensselaer County Health Department.

Recently, the Deputy County Executive retired and, as a signatory position only per the county’s charter, the County Executive appointed Director Wachunas to serve as deputy until the end of the term.

Director Wachunas devotes 100% of her time to her role as Public Health Director, and if such a time arises where the County Executive cannot fulfill their role, Director Wachunas would step into the deputy role and a new Public Health Director would need to be named.

I hope I have answered your questions.

Thank you again for your concern.

Sincerely,

James V. McDonald, M.D., M.P.H.
Acting Commissioner of Health

[thelivyjr]

7 MAY 2023

Dr. James McDonald MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner, New York State Department of Health
Corning Tower Building
5 Empire State Plz.
Albany, New York 12237

RE: Your endorsement of the on-going Cover-up/Whitewash of gross negligence and dereliction of duty by the New York State Department of Health and the Rensselaer County Health Department in connection with the PFAS contamination of the well-field of the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County calls into question your fitness to serve as New York State Health Commissioner; Yours of April 18, 2023 evinces an intent on your part to deny me the equal protection of the New York State Public Health Law and Sanitary Code as well as denying my right to clean water and a healthful environment pursuant to § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution

Dear Commissioner McDonald:

With regard to yours of April 18, 2023 which I only just received, the envelope being postmarked April 27, 2023, wherein you concluded by stating “I hope I have answered your questions,” and “Thank you for your concern,” which comment I thought was quite patronizing, speaking as a resident of the Rensselaer County Health District, which district was established in 1946 by will of the voters of Rensselaer County at that time, for over seventy (70) years now who is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of New York to safeguard life, health and property and who is further qualified by exam to practice at the associate level as a public health engineer in New York, where the term public health engineer shall mean a person who applies engineering principles for the detection, evaluation, control and management of those factors in the environment which influence the public's health, my response to your concluding question is no, you did not answer my questions, at all.

To the contrary, what you did do, with the aid of Dr. Ursula Bauer, PhD, MPH, Deputy Commissioner for Public Health, Shane Roberts, Assistant Director, Office of Public Health Practice, and your Division of Legal Affairs, was to intentionally insult me and demean me by your presumption that despite my credentials as a licensed professional engineer further qualified as an associate level public health engineer who was twice commended in writing by then-New York State Health Commissioner Dr. David Axelrod for ensuring protection of the public’s health in the Rensselaer County Health District in accordance with the provisions of Article 6 of the New York State Public Health Law, that I am stupid, and ignorant, which is a foolish assumption on your part as the Commissioner of Health for the State of New York with a clear duty to myself pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 206 to (a)take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto and exercise the functions, powers and duties of the department prescribed by law; (b) exercise general supervision over the work of all local boards of health and health officers, unless otherwise provided by law; and (f) enforce the public health law and the sanitary code, which in the case of the PFAS contamination of my water supply in Poestenkill (T) and the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill, your agency and the Rensselaer County Department of Health under Mary Fran Wachunas failed to do.

You begin yours of April 18, 2023 by stating thusly, to wit:

“I am responding to your letter, dated March 10, 2023, regarding your questions about the statutes governing the Rensselaer County Health District.”

end quote

Except I did not ask you about statutes governing the Rensselaer County Health District, including Article 6 of the New York Public Health Law, the provisions of which you as Public Health Commissioner of New York have a duty to enforce pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 603(2), precisely because at the time I wrote mine of 10 March 2023, I was well aware of the statutes governing the Rensselaer County Health District as embodied in Article 8 of Local Law No. 2, 1971 - A Local Law Adopting A County Charter For The County Of Rensselaer In Accordance With The Provisions Of The Municipal Home Rule Law Of The State Of New York, which Local Law I voted for in 1971, knowing at the time, being of sound mind, full well what it was I was voting for, to wit:

ARTICLE 8 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Section 8.00 County Health District; Department of Health; Commissioner; Appointment; Qualifications; Term

The County of Rensselaer shall be a county health district.

There shall be a Department of Health under the direction of a Commissioner of Health, who shall be appointed by the County Manager, subject to confirmation by the County Legislature.

At the time of his appointment, and throughout his term of office, the Commissioner shall be and remain duly licensed and entitled to practice medicine in the State of New York and shall have such other qualifications as may be required by law.

He shall be appointed and serve pursuant to the provisions of the Public Health Law.

He shall be directly responsible to the County Manager.

Section 8.01 Powers and Duties

The Commissioner of Health shall be the chief administrative officer of the Department.

Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, he shall have all the powers and perform all the duties conferred or imposed by law upon a county commissioner of health, and shall perform such other and related duties required by the County Manager.

Section 8.02 Board of Health

There shall be in the Department a Board of Health whose members shall continue to be appointed by the County Legislature in the manner and for the term provided in the Public Health Law.

The Board of Health, subject to the provisions of the Public Health Law and the State Sanitary Code, shall have the power to formulate, adopt, promulgate, amend or repeal such rules and regulations as may affect public health within the county; to formulate, adopt, promulgate, amend or repeal a County Sanitary Code; to consider any matters that may come to its attention relating to the preservation and improvement of public health within the County, and advise the Commissioner thereon, either at his request or upon its own initiative, and from time to time make recommendations to the Commissioner thereon.

Section 8.03 Deputy Commissioner of Health and Staff

The Commissioner shall have the power to appoint such Deputy Commissioners of Health, assistants and employees of his Department as shall be authorized by the County Legislature.

At the times of their appointment, and throughout their terms of office, all Deputy Commissioners of Health shall be and remain duly licensed and entitled to practice medicine in the State of New York, and shall have such other qualifications as may be required by law.

All Deputy Commissioners of Health shall be directly responsible to, and serve at the pleasure of, the Commissioner of Health.

Section 8.06 County Sanitary Code; Violations and Penalties.

The provisions of the County Sanitary Code shall have the force and effect of law.

Penalties for violation or non-conformance with any provisions of such County Sanitary Code or of any rule, regulation, order or direction made thereunder shall be in accordance with provisions of the Public Health Law of the State of New York.

Certified copies of the County Sanitary Code shall be received in evidence in all courts and proceedings in the State.

end quotes

What I did ask you is as follows, to wit:

* Why is the Deputy Rensselaer County Executive in Rensselaer County, a political appointee of the Rensselaer County Executive who himself is not a doctor, nor does he have any medical or public health credentials, now serving in the capacity of Rensselaer County Public Health Director?

* Why is the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which thanks to the New York State Department of Health itself has been corrupt and worthless in terms of providing public health protection and promotion since 1977, under the control of the Rensselaer County Executive as opposed to a Board of Health?

end quotes

Your Praise of Mary Fran Wachunas as an Exemplary Public Health Director calls into question your judgment as New York State Health Commissioner and fitness to serve

Rather than address either question I raised in mine of March 10, 2023, and especially the second question concerning the non-existent Rensselaer County Board of Health, which question you chose to dodge by engaging in political shuck-and-jive, instead, what you and Dr. Ursula Bauer, PhD, MPH, Deputy Commissioner for Public Health and Shane Roberts, Assistant Director, Office of Public Health Practice, and your Division of Legal Affairs have attempted to do was to feed me a bush-league, amateur-hour snow job that you as the New York State Health Commissioner then tried to legitimize with your signature, as if your signature can transform falsehoods and just plain balderdash and malarkey into facts, a vivid example of which is this following from yours of April 18, 2023, as follows:

Please be assured that Mary Fran Wachunas is indeed qualified to serve as the public health director for Rensselaer County Department of Health and she has done so for many years with an exemplary record.

end quotes

What makes her record exemplary to you and your agency, and the only thing that makes her record exemplary to you and your agency is the key role she has played in whitewashing and covering up the gross negligence and dereliction of duty of your agency and the Rensselaer County Department of Health that allowed the well-field of the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill to become contaminated with PFAS from the Poestenkill transfer station.

What with the contamination of the well-field of the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School, and contamination of wells in Poestenkill with fecal coliform and her poor performance during the COVID crisis where fifty-four (54) days after CDC issued an official CDC Health Advisory distributed via the CDC Health Alert Network to state and local health officers, state and local epidemiologists, state and local laboratory directors, public information officers, HAN coordinators, and clinician organizations on 8 January 2020, on 2 March 2020, she sat mute next to Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin while he falsely and speciously told us “there is no need for undue concern or worry,” with regard to protecting and promoting the health of the residents of Rensselaer, after which the elderly in Rensselaer County started dying like flies, her record is pathetic, as is your agency’s, as well, and her record is only “exemplary” if you consider incompetence and dishonesty to be “exemplary,” as you clearly do.

From the context here, given the key role Mary Fran Wachunas played in whitewashing and covering up the gross negligence and dereliction of duty of your agency and the Rensselaer County Department of Health that allowed the well-field of the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill to become contaminated with PFAS from the Poestenkill transfer station, the word “exemplary” to you when applied to her performance in that matter obviously means her allowing the water supply serving a school full of children in Poestenkill to first become contaminated with PFAS, and to then lie to us by telling us that drinking water with PFAS in it has no adverse health impacts, which is a sick and perverted use of the word “exemplary” on your part, which in turn calls into question your fitness to continue to serve as New York State Health Commissioner, given your obvious support for this whitewash and cover-up as opposed to support for the protection and promotion of the health of the residents of Rensselaer County, including myself.

On the State Health Department vetting Rensselaer County Public Health officials

In yours of April 18, 2023, you next say this following, to wit:

All public health directors of all local health departments in New York State are fully vetted by the State and their qualifications are reviewed.

end quote

And we in Rensselaer County with memories are very well aware of the fact that in or about 1977, your agency “vetted” Kenneth Van Praag, the executive secretary of the NYS Republican Party, and created a medical doctor out of him despite the fact that he was not a doctor and had no medical training, which didn’t faze your agency in the least, and then your agency installed him in the Rensselaer County Health Department as a Deputy Commissioner.

Subsequent thereto, after serving a year as a Deputy Health Commissioner, and with the full approval of your agency, which knew Van Praag was serving as a medical doctor in Rensselaer County without a license or qualifications, Van Praag was given full control of the Rensselaer County Department of Health by your agency as a Public Health Director, despite the fact that the Rensselaer County Charter as approved by the people of Rensselaer required a medical doctor as Commissioner, a requirement your agency got around by endorsing a bogus Charter never approved by the people of Rensselaer County, thus perpetrating a fraud on us to our detriment.

So much then, for your vetting and approving public health directors for Rensselaer County.

As you proved with Ken Van Praag, your process is a joke, and is based on political reliability, as Mary Fran Wachunas has proven with her key role in the Poestenkill PFAS Whitewash, not professional competence.

The Rensselaer County Executive is not a physician yet speaks as one, notwithstanding

What came next in yours of April 18, 2023 is as follows, to wit:

The Rensselaer County Executive, as you correctly note, is not a physician, nor by statute is one required to be a physician.

In fact, most county executives are not physicians.

end quote

All true, and yet, during the COVID crisis, it was Steve McLaughlin, the Rensselaer County Executive who is not a medical doctor, but is clearly the one in charge of the Rensselaer County Department of Health, not Wachunas, who was speaking to us in Rensselaer County in his many press conferences, of which I kept records, concerning COVID as if he were indeed a medical doctor, while Mary Fran Wachunas sat near him as a stage prop, and in a Times Union article titled "Rensselaer County investigates La Salle student with coronavirus - County said it had no idea student tested positive until school sent out notification" by Wendy Liberatore and Michael Williams on March 18, 2020, McLaughlin and Wachunas had a McLaughlin political flunky recently arrested by the FBI for alleged voter fraud addressing us concerning COVID, as opposed to Wachunas, to wit:

TROY - Rensselaer County is investigating how a La Salle Institute student, who tested positive for the coronavirus, was able to attend school and possibly infect students, faculty and staff around him, said county Bureau of Central Services Director Jim Gordon.

Gordon said the student's father also tested positive for the coronavirus, but the Rensselear County Health Department was not notified.

Gordon said Rensselaer Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas knew nothing about the case until the school sent out a notification to the prep school's community.

Gordon said they don't know when either was diagnosed, or how many people the student might have come in contact with.

During a press conference Wednesday, Wachunas and County Executive Steve McLaughlin both called for increased communication and transparency from any entity that learns about a coronavirus exposure.

McLaughlin said everybody is learning as the virus continues to spread.

"I think this is a learn-as-you-go process, and everybody has that want to do their job and get that notification out to protect as many people as you can," McLaughlin said.

"But there are certain things that need to fall into place when we have that positive."

"We want to make sure that we’ve got our arms around it, and that we start our notification circle right away."

end quotes

I have fifteen pages worth of such press releases starring McLaughlin speaking to us about COVID as if in fact he were a physician, so if he is not a physician, why does he address us as though he were one?

Your Intentional Perversion of the Rensselaer County Charter

You next state in yours of April 18, 2023, as follows:

Also by statute, the local health department public health director is not required to be a physician.

end quote

While that generality might or might not be true elsewhere, as was made crystal clear above, Article 8 of the Rensselaer County Charter as approved by the voters of the County and never since amended by referendum as is required by the Charter does in fact require a medical doctor in charge of the Rensselaer County Department of Health, to wit:

Section 8.00 County Health District; Department of Health; Commissioner; Appointment; Qualifications; Term

The County of Rensselaer shall be a county health district.

There shall be a Department of Health under the direction of a Commissioner of Health, who shall be appointed by the County Manager, subject to confirmation by the County Legislature.

At the time of his appointment, and throughout his term of office, the Commissioner shall be and remain duly licensed and entitled to practice medicine in the State of New York and shall have such other qualifications as may be required by law.

end quotes

Mary Fran Wachunas, who not that long ago was a community nurse, is clearly not licensed to nor entitled to practice medicine in the State of New York, so why is she serving as a medical doctor in the Rensselaer County Department of Health?

And why are you telling us she is qualified to so serve?

And as to your further perversion of the Rensselaer County Charter, we have as follows from yours of April 18, 2023, to wit:

Recently, the Deputy County Executive retired and, as a signatory position only per the county’s charter, the County Executive appointed Director Wachunas to serve as deputy until the end of the term.

Director Wachunas devotes 100% of her time to her role as Public Health Director, and if such a time arises where the County Executive cannot fulfill their role, Director Wachunas would step into the deputy role and a new Public Health Director would need to be named.

end quotes

And what ridiculous bunkum and twaddle that is, which again serves to call into question your fitness to serve as New York State Health Commissioner, as we clearly see by going to Section 3.02 of Article 3 of the Rensselaer County Charter, titled “Deputy County Executive,” wherein is stated in clear and unambiguous regulatory language that a medical doctor and state Health Commissioner such as yourself should have been able to comprehend and understand at the time of the writing of yours of April 18, 2023 where you tried to feed me this specious horsecrap above here about a “signatory position only,” as follows:

Within thirty (30) days of his qualifying for office, the County Executive shall appoint, subject to confirmation by the County Legislature, a Deputy County Executive to perform such duties as may be assigned to him by the County Executive.

During the absence of the County Executive from the County, or in the event of his being unable to act for any reason, the Deputy County Executive shall perform all the duties and have all the powers of the County Executive.

end quotes

According to the actual language of the Rensselaer County Charter, the position of Deputy Rensselaer County Executive is hardly signatory when the Deputy County Executive, in this case, the Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas, who served as a stage prop for Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin all through the COVID fiasco, and again, all through the Poestenkill PFAS Whitewash, performs such duties as may be assigned to her by Steve McLaughlin, and during the absence of Steve McLaughlin from the County, she performs all the duties and has all the powers of the County Executive, which raises the logical and rational question of exactly how it is she is devoting 100% of her time to her role as Public Health Director, when in fact she is at the same time performing such duties as may be assigned to her by Steve McLaughlin, and during the absence of Steve McLaughlin from the County, she is performing all the duties of the County Executive, which is a full-time job.

So in yours of April 18, 2023, you are lying to me, plain and simple, about Mary Fran Wachunas’ role as Deputy Rensselaer County Executive, and a medical doctor who tells such egregious lies is unfit to be the Health Commissioner of the State of New York.

And your statement that “if such a time arises where the County Executive cannot fulfill their role, Director Wachunas would step into the deputy role” is simply stupid, given that once appointed, pursuant to the Rensselaer County Charter, Mary Fran Wachunas has already stepped in the deputy role, and that stupid statement, which reflects poorly on your reasoning ability, serves to reinforce why you are unfit to serve as New York State Health Commissioner and therefore, should immediately step down and resign.

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE

[thelivyjr]

*************************
IN THE MATTER OF

PROPOSED POESTENKILL

WATER DISTRICT NO. 2

*************************

PUBLIC HEARING COMMENTS OF PAUL R. PLANTE IN OPPOSITION

PAUL R. PLANTE, residing at 50 Liberty Lane, Town of Poestenkill, County of Rensselaer, states on the record concerning Proposed Water District No. 2 in Poestenkill, as follows:

POINT I: LACKING PERTINENT AND RELEVANT INFORMATION THAT WOULD ALLOW AN AFFECTED CITIZEN TO MAKE AN INFORMED JUDGMENT ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT PROPOSED WATER DISTRICT NO. 2 IS IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND BENEFITS ALL THE PROPERTY AND PROPERTY OWNERS IN THE PROPOSED DISTRICT, THE PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS DEFECTIVE, AND THUS THIS PUBLIC HEARING IS NULL AND VOID

For the record, with respect to Public Hearings held for the purpose of establishing water districts in a town in New York State, which would include Poestenkill, New York State Town Law § 209-E states in clear, unambiguous and unequivocal statutory language as follows, to wit:

Establishment or Extension of Districts

1. After the hearing held upon notice as hereinbefore provided and upon the evidence given thereat, the town board shall determine by resolution:

(a) whether the notice of hearing was published and posted as required by law, and is otherwise sufficient.

end quotes

A. This Public Hearing Notice is defective as devoid of pertinent and relevant Information which would allow an affected citizen to make an informed judgement in the matter of Proposed Water District No. 2.

In this instant matter, the posted defective Public Hearing Notice states in relevant part, as follows:

TOWN OF POESTENKILL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
PROPOSED WATER DISTRICT NO. 2

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Town Board of the Town of Poestenkill will hold a public hearing on the proposed Water District No. 2.

The proposed Water District No. 2 will include the extension of public water from an existing water main in Snyders Corner Road to the intersection of Route 66 and Route 351 by the Algonquin Middle School, connecting to the existing water system at Route 66.

The public hearing will be held on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 7:00 P.M., at the Poestenkill Fire House, 182 Main Street, Poestenkill, New York.

All interested persons in this matter will have an opportunity to be heard at that time and place.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE of the following:

A Map, Plan and Report, dated August 2022 and revised April 2023, has been accepted by the Poestenkill Town Board and is on file in the Poestenkill Town Clerk’s Office and available for public inspection at the Town Clerk’s Office during regular business hours.

The Map, Plan and Report is also available online at the Town’s website at www.poestenkillny.com.

The Map, Plan and Report sets forth the description of the boundaries of proposed Water District No. 2, a description of the proposed improvements, a computation of the costs of the proposed improvements, the proposed method of financing the costs of the proposed district, and the annual estimated cost to the typical property in the proposed district area.

Also included in the Map, Plan and Report is a detailed explanation of how the estimated cost of the proposed district to the typical property was computed.

The maximum amount to be expended for the proposed district is $5,550,000.00.

The estimated cost of the proposed district to the typical one-family residential property located in the proposed district area during the first year in which operation, maintenance, water service and debt service is to be paid is $965.00.

The estimated cost of the proposed district for properties located within the proposed district area may be determined from information in the Map, Plan and Report.

The proposed method of financing the expenses of the proposed district, including annual operation, maintenance, and debt repayment, is by assessing the properties in the proposed district area on a benefit unit basis.

By Order of the Town of Poestenkill

Town Board

Keith Hammond, Supervisor

end quotes

Nowhere does that posted Public Hearing Notice state the actual purpose of the hearing and what section of Town Law is governing the proceedings so as to inform the citizens of their due process and equal protection rights, which takes us to page 2 of the May 4, 2023 Advertiser and “Poestenkill News Update From Sue Horton, Poestenkill Town Clerk,” where we were given the following further defective Notice, which is all the notice we are going to get, a defective one, to wit:

Several residents voiced their concerns about the Water District No. 2 funding and other detailed aspects of the undertaking.

Supervisor Hammond informed residents that there will be a public hearing on the proposed Water District No. 2 on May 11th at 7 p.m. which will be held at the Fire House.

end quotes

The posted Public Hearing Notice is defective precisely because it does not inform the citizens of this town that this Public Hearing by Town Law is supposed to be an evidentiary hearing where the affected citizens are to present evidence, and nowhere does this defective Public Hearing Notice give the citizens of this town any clear idea of exactly what it is this Public Hearing is by law supposed to be about, so that they can be heard intelligently, which takes us back to New York State Town Law § 209-E, wherein is stated in clear, unambiguous and unequivocal statutory language as follows, to wit:

Establishment or Extension of Districts

1. After the hearing held upon notice as hereinbefore provided and upon the evidence given thereat, the town board shall determine by resolution:

end quote

The posted Public Hearing Notice is defective because it did not contain that information, and thus this Public Hearing is a sham and is null and void.

B. What all interested persons in this matter should have been informed about so as to have afforded them an opportunity to be heard in an intelligent and informed manner at this Public Hearing if proper Notice had been given.

New York State Town Law § 209-E, states in clear, unambiguous and unequivocal statutory language as follows with respect to exactly what evidence was to be given by the affected citizens had proper Notice been given, to wit, to wit:

Establishment or Extension of Districts

1. After the hearing held upon notice as hereinbefore provided and upon the evidence given thereat, the town board shall determine by resolution:

(b) whether all the property and property owners within the proposed district or extension are benefited thereby;

(c) whether all the property and property owners benefited are included within the limits of the proposed district or extension;

(d) whether the establishment or extension of such district is in the public interest.

end quotes

In this specific case of Proposed Water District No. 2, nowhere in the Public Hearing Notice does it state anything about Proposed Water District No. 2 being in the “public interest.”

Similarly, it makes no attempt whatsoever to justify the inclusion or exclusion of properties and property owners in the district, nor does it attempt to make any kind of justification that all property owners would in fact be benefitted, which is not true, and yet, because of the intentionally defective Public Hearing Notice, those not benefitted will be sandbagged, not knowing that at this Public Hearing, it was incumbent upon them to present evidence that they will not be benefitted, and because of the defective Public Hearing Notice, all town residents in the proposed district will be sandbagged, not knowing that at this Public Hearing, they were to present evidence that this proposed district is not in the “public’s interest.”

Thus, this intentionally defective Public Hearing Notice strips the residents of Poestenkill of Due Process and Equal Protection of law, as it was intended to do.

C. New York State Town Law § 209-E(2)(a) provides the vehicle with which to affect a proper remedy for the affected citizens with respect to this defective Public Hearing Notice so as to provide them with Due Process and Equal Protection of law in Poestenkill.

With respect to making this matter of the defective Public Hearing Notice right for the affected citizens and residents of Poestenkill, the Town Board must take its guidance from New York State Town Law § 209-E(2)(a), wherein is stated as follows:

2.(a) If the town board shall determine that the notice of hearing was not published and posted as required by law or that it is otherwise insufficient, or if it is determined that it is not in the public interest to accomplish the establishment or extension of the district as proposed, the town board shall adopt a resolution stating the reasons for its determination not to establish or extend the district and enter the same in the minutes of its proceedings.

end quote

Where this Notice of Hearing is clearly insufficient to properly inform the citizens and residents of Poestenkill of what their duties and responsibilities are supposed to be at this Public Hearing with regard to making an informed judgment as to whether or not this proposed Water District No. 2 is in the public’s interest, and that all property owners included in the proposed Water District No. 2 will be benefitted, the proper course of action for this Town Board is to declare the Public Hearing Notice insufficient, and order that a proper one be prepared and that a new Public Hearing then be scheduled.

DATED: 11 May 2023

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE

[thelivyjr]

NEWS10 ABC

"Proposed $5.5 million water district for Poestenkill"

by: James De La Fuente

Posted: May 11, 2023

POESTENKILL, N.Y. (NEWS10) – It has been more than two years since PFAS were found in Poestenkill drinking water and tonight NEWS10 was at a public meeting where a new water district is being presented followed by public comment.

Dozens filled the Poestenkill fire house as the Laberge group presented a $5.5 million solution to the unhealthy water supply.

Nearly 60% of that bill would be covered by grants, but that still leaves the town and residents on the hook for the rest.

It’s now causing sticker shock for many in this small community.

“People you are being flim flammed."

"You want to be flim flammed, go along with these people,” said Paul Plante.

It will cost all property owners nearly $1000 a year, whether they are connected to the system or not.

“The question is, is it affordable, are we paying the right cost?” asked Greg Pattenaude.

“$1,000 a year is quite an expense for some people,” said Terry D’Arcangelo.

“I’m a disabled veteran on a fixed income and I’m going to be driven off my property,” said Plante.

Both town drinking wells and about 25% of the homes have a tainted water supply.

Greg Pattenaude with Concerned Citizens for Clean Drinking Water says that’s only a small portion has been tested for the forever chemicals.

“If you have a well and you have a septic system, you really should think about having your water tested for,” said Pattenaude.

The DEC has not been able to identify a source for the toxins in the ground and it raises another concern for residents in Poestenkill as the new district will get water from a nearby source.

“Tomhannock reservoir is far more susceptible to PFA contamination then on our ground water supply,” said Plante.

The NYSDOH, DEC and Rensselaer County DOH will be hosting an availability session to further address the new district they will be meeting at the Algonquin Middle School on May 18.

https://www.news10.com/news/proposed-5- ... estenkill/

[thelivyjr]

13 MAY 2023

Dr. James McDonald MD, MPH
Acting Commissioner, New York State Department of Health
Corning Tower Building
5 Empire State Plz.
Albany, New York 12237

RE: Your endorsement of the Poestenkill PFAS Whitewash; Your Intentional Propagation of Falsehoods put forth by NYSDEC concerning PFAS in Poestenkill’s ground water; Your unfitness to serve as NYS Health Commissioner; Three simple questions: Why is the New York State Department of Health incompetent, why is the New York State Department of Health a Sociopathic Liar, and why does the New York State Department of Health act to protect politically-powerful polluters instead of protecting and promoting the health of the residents of the Rensselaer County Health District?

Dear Commissioner McDonald:

By way of review, on 7 May 2023, I sent you a writing you received on 9 May 2023, which writing was titled RE: Your endorsement of the on-going Cover-up/Whitewash of gross negligence and dereliction of duty by the New York State Department of Health and the Rensselaer County Health Department in connection with the PFAS contamination of the well-field of the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill (T), Rensselaer County calls into question your fitness to serve as New York State Health Commissioner; Yours of April 18, 2023 evinces an intent on your part to deny me the equal protection of the New York State Public Health Law and Sanitary Code as well as denying my right to clean water and a healthful environment pursuant to § 19 of Article I of the New York State Constitution, and wherein was stated in relevant part as follows, to wit:

So in yours of April 18, 2023, you are lying to me, plain and simple, about Mary Fran Wachunas’ role as Deputy Rensselaer County Executive, and a medical doctor who tells such egregious lies is unfit to be the Health Commissioner of the State of New York.

end quote

Imagine my surprise then when on Friday, 12 May 2023, I received a letter dated 10 May 2023 from Justin H. Deming, Chief, Regions 4, 5 & 8, Bureau of Environmental Exposure Investigation, which letter began as follows, to wit:

I am responding to your March 23rd, 2023 letter to Acting New York State Commissioner of Public Health James McDonald, M.D., M.P.H. regarding per- and polfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination near the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill, New York.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) recently released the attached Community Update summarizing the activities which have been completed to protect drinking water and to evaluate potential sources of PFAS contamination in the Poestenkill area.

end quotes

The attached “Community Update” in turn presented us with this following absurd and blatant falsehood from NYSDEC being propagated by Justin Deming on behalf of your agency, to wit:

INVESTIGATION SUMMARY

The State and County’s extensive investigation suggests there is no industrial source contributing to the PFAS detected in drinking water at or near the Algonquin Middle School.

end quote

First of all, there was no “extensive investigation.”

To the contrary, what there was, was a cover-up and whitewash, and as to the Rensselaer County Department of Health’s supposed “extensive investigation,” which is a laugh, given there wasn’t one, Rensselaer County Associate Public Health Engineer Richard Elder, NYSPE, was quoted in a Times Union article titled “Rensselaer County expands PFOA testing in Poestenkill” by Kenneth C. Crowe II on September 22, 2021, as follows, to wit:

Elder said the tests are to determine the potential exposure in drinking water rather than identifying a source of the PFOA contamination.

end quotes

And secondly, with respect to the ridiculous statement that the “State and County’s extensive investigation suggests there is no industrial source contributing to the PFAS detected in drinking water at or near the Algonquin Middle School,” what the evidence in DEC’s own files as of June of 2022 strongly suggests is that the Poestenkill transfer station is indeed the source of the PFAS, as between 2018 and June of 2022, some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station are estimated to have been discharged to the environment in Poestenkill between 2018 and June of 2022.

Thus, NYSDEC is lying through its teeth when it falsely states that the “State and County’s extensive investigation suggests there is no industrial source contributing to the PFAS detected in drinking water at or near the Algonquin Middle School.”

Which in turn brings us back to mine of March 23rd, 2023 which Justin Deming has responded to by feeding me more lies, which letter to yourself started as follows, to wit:

As a follow-up to mine of 10 March 2023 where we talked about how Rensselaer County Public Health Director Mary Fran Wachunas was rewarded by the Rensselaer County legislature with the addition of Deputy Rensselaer County Executive added to her title for doing what is known in Rensselaer County as “making her political bones,” which she did by joining with her “partners” the New York State Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the town of Poestenkill to cover over the source of the PFAS in Poestenkill’s drinking water and the drinking water of the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill in order to protect a politically-powerful polluter in Poestenkill, this after her Associate Public Health Engineer, Richard Elder, NYSPE, was quoted in a Times Union story on September 22, 2021 titled “Rensselaer County expands PFOA testing in Poestenkill” by Kenneth C. Crowe II as stating that Wachunas and the Rensselaer County Department of Health were not trying to identify a source of the PFOA contamination, a task Wachunas performed admirably, as a resident of the Rensselaer County Health District affected by the on-going gross negligence of the Rensselaer County Department of Health that allowed this contamination to happen to my drinking water supply, I have three relevant and pertinent questions for you as New York State Health Commissioner with a duty pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 206(1)(a) to take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto and exercise the functions, powers and duties of the department prescribed by law; and § 206(1)(b), to exercise general supervision over the work of all local boards of health and health officers, unless otherwise provided by law, which questions are presented in the following order, to wit:

I: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH INCOMPETENT?

II: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH A SOCIOPATHIC LIAR?

III: WHY IS THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH A PROTECTOR OF POLLUTERS?

end quotes

Incredibly, as if from a scene straight out of Tales of the Absurd, Justin Deming chose to respond to my question about why the NYSDOH is a sociopathic liar by feeding me yet more lies, as if I were an imbecilic moron who wouldn’t or couldn’t know the difference, which calls into question the reading comprehension abilities of Justin Deming, along with his own fitness to serve the people of New York State as a representative of the New York State Department of Health, which agency under your leadership has been reduced to the status of a pathetic, incompetent and untrustworthy liar that one would expect to find in a third-world country like Haiti or Zimbabwe.

As to mine of March 23rd, 2023 that Justin Deming was responding to, at page 6, it stated in clear and unambiguous language as follows:

Right from the very beginning, in January of 2021, it was obvious, given its documented history of spills, that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation-permitted Poestenkill transfer station was the source of the PFAS, which statement is supported by a Report posted on the website of New York Department of Health’s “partner,” the NYSDEC, on June 20, 2022 wherein it was made patently clear that between 2018 and June of 2022, by a conservative estimate, some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station were discharged to the environment in Poestenkill.

If one stands in front of the Algonquin School and looks northeastward, right across the intersection of Rt. 66 and 351, one can’t help but see the NYSDEC-permitted Poestenkill transfer station, with its documented history of spills, sitting on the high ground with respect to the location of the school, and if one was diligent, and actually bothered to do a file check to check the records, it was patently clear that the NYSDEC-permitted transfer station was the source.

To admit that, of course, was to make it clear that the NYSDEC itself was negligent, something the NYSDEC has perfected into an art form, as well as the politically-powerful operator of the transfer station, so hush was the word.

Public pressure, however, was growing in Poestenkill to find the source, so the town of Poestenkill and its partners the NYSDEC and the NYSDOH made a decision to mislead the residents of Poestenkill by putting on a traditional “dog-and-pony” show, with officials of the town of Poestenkill, the NYSDEC and NYSDOH forming a panel to tell lies to the people of Poestenkill while reinforcing each other’s lies, which brings us to a WNYT-TV article titled "Poestenkill residents decry 'slow progress' in PFOA probe" on September 28, 2021, where the NYSDOH played a starring role, to wit:

POESTENKILL - With chemicals in their drinking water, the angst came bubbling to the surface during a standing room only meeting Monday night in Poestenkill.

Unlike PFOA discoveries in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, which was linked to industrial sources, the origin in Poestenkill remains unknown.

"We should recognize that you're not always going to find an industrial source," said Gary Ginsburg of the state Department of Health.

end quotes

That statement was and is patently absurd, given the presence of the Poestenkill transfer station with its documented record of spills in plain sight on high ground right across from the Algonquin School, and yet, it was delivered with a straight face by Dr. Ginsburg, who directs the NYS DOH Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a Center which administers and coordinates water supply protection across NYS, a sick joke that given the contamination of our drinking water, which statement is a testament to his prowess as a prevaricator.

And there the tone was set for the amateur-hour whitewash which has proceeded from that point to the present, with all of the “partners,” including Dr. Ginsburg still not having a clue, in their words as to the source of the PFAS, as we were told by DEC Commissioner Sean Mahar in a Spectrum News 1 article titled "Poestenkill residents demand answers on contaminated water" by Spencer Conlin on January 27, 2022 that “It’s a science-based, very methodical process that we have underway right now,” and “We’re bringing the best scientific minds in the state to the community to try and understand this issue.”

Logically speaking, with all these "best scientific minds in the state" involved, including Dr. Ginsburg, one would think that at least one of them, starting with Dr. Ginsburg, would be able to read the June 20, 2022 Report on the NYSDEC website and understand and comprehend the fact that some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA imported into the Poestenkill transfer station according to the DEC's own figures remain unaccounted for, because it didn't go into the holding tank.

But these alleged "best scientific minds in the state," including Dr. Ginsburg, don’t know and won’t know the source of the PFAS because they are protecting the source as we see in an Albany, New York Times Union article "Poestenkill receives $3.3 million state water grant but still doesn't know PFOA source" by Kenneth C. Crowe II on November 8, 2022, this being one hundred forty-one (141) days after the “partners,” including the NYSDOH, were appraised that the source was the Poestenkill transfer station, to wit:

POESTENKILL – The town has received a state grant that will pay for 60 percent of the estimated $5.5 million cost to create a municipal water district that would serve the area around Algonquin Middle School where PFOA/PFOS contamination has been found in local wells.

The source of the contamination has yet to be discovered and testing is still taking place.

Hammond said he has been in contact with the state and the agencies are continuing to work on the contamination issues.

He said he doesn’t anticipate there will be an industrial source for the contamination.

end quotes

He doesn’t anticipate an industrial source for the contamination will be found precisely because the “partners,” including the NYSDOH, are covering up the source.

The residents of Poestenkill with PFAS in our drinking water would like to know why your agency is bending over backwards to protect a politically-powerful polluter instead of acting to promote the health of the residents of Poestenkill, and hopefully, we can count on you to provide is with that answer forthwith.

end quote

As Mr. Deming has just made incandescently here, however, with his letter of May 10, 2023, we cannot trust you for anything, starting with the truth and facts, for which reason you are totally unfit to fill the office of New York State Health Commissioner, and for which reason you should immediately resign as being unfit for the office and incapable of carrying out your duty to myself and the people of Poestenkill pursuant to New York State Public Health Law § 206 to (a)take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto and exercise the functions, powers and duties of the department prescribed by law; (b) exercise general supervision over the work of all local boards of health and health officers, unless otherwise provided by law; and (f) enforce the public health law and the sanitary code, which in the case of the PFAS contamination of my water supply in Poestenkill (T) and the public water supply serving the Algonquin Middle School in Poestenkill, your agency and the Rensselaer County Department of Health under Mary Fran Wachunas failed to do.

Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter, I remain

Respectfully,

Paul R. Plante, NYSPE, Assoc. P.H. Eng.

[thelivyjr]

13 MAY 2023

THE POESTENKILL CHRONICAL & GAZETTE

"Water District No.2 Public Hearing Update

At a public hearing in Poestenkill on May 11, 2023 held pursuant to New York State Town Law § 209-E concerning proposed Water District No. 2, the following three issues were raised, to wit:

A. The hearing notice was defective, rendering it insufficient for purposes of passing resolutions pursuant to Town Law § 209-E(1) and the public hearing null and void as it failed to give adequate notice to the residents as to the exact purpose of the public hearing, nor were the financial figures presented correct;

B. There is no proof or evidence that all the property and property owners within the proposed district or extension are benefited thereby, as the district boundaries were arrived at in an arbitrary and capricious manner as was made clear in the presentation of Poestenkill's engineer Ronald J. Laberge, P.E., who talked about the district at one time being bigger, but was made smaller due to money issues.

Nowhere in the presentation of Ronald J. Laberge, P.E. did he state how each property owner in the proposed district would benefit as is required by Town Law § 209-E(1)(b); and

C. The establishment of Water District No. 2 is not in the public's interest pursuant to Town Law § 209-E(1)(d) as proposed, where according to the proposal presented, it is the residents of Poestenkill in the neighborhood of the Poestenkill transfer station who have been harmed by some 206,379 gallons of leachate containing some 100 ppt of PFOA, 41 ppt of PFOS, 22 ppt of PFBS, 30 ppt of PFHpA, 37 ppt of PFPeA, 39 ppt of PFHxS, 62 ppt of PFHxS, and 250 ppt PFHxA generated at the Poestenkill transfer station estimated to have been discharged to the environment in Poestenkill between 2018 and June of 2022 who are being the ones penalized financially for harm done to them as a result of gross negligence by Poestenkill, the NYSDEC, the NYSDOH and the RCHD in terms of protecting the groundwater in Poestenkill.

Penalizing the affected residents of Poestenkill financially is obscene!