Pfoa Lawyers Not Consulted By Hoosick Falls

Two Ohio attorneys who led groundbreaking court cases involving the toxic chemical PFOA said Hoosick Falls' officials may be misleading the public into thinking they reviewed or endorsed a proposed settlement between the village and two companies blamed for polluting the community's water supply. Last month the Times Union contacted Thomas Ulasewicz, a Glens Falls attorney who has handled the negotiations for the village, because of a statement posted on the village's website defending the agreement that also said the village's attorneys "conferred with several private and public sector attorneys with experience in environmental and land use laws, as well as tort litigation, including attorneys involved in litigation related to remedial sites in the Ohio Valley." Village officials said the settlement would cover the costs of the small community's expenses for engineering, water sampling, and legal and public relations advice since the contamination was discovered in 2014. The latest draft increased the settlement amount from $850,000 and added language stating the village will not be prohibited from bringing future claims related to new wells, alternative water sources, additions to the current water system that may be needed, contamination associated with pollutants other than PFOA or damages for diminished property values. PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, was used in manufacturing in the village for decades. Since 1956 at least five companies — including Saint-Gobain and a predecessor corporation of Honeywell called Allied Signal — owned and operated a McCaffrey Street plant that is a focus of the water pollution.