County To Enact Coalition Proposals

Our Coalition to Prevent Westchester Airport Expansion held a press conference last week  on PFAS chemical contamination of ground water at and around the County airport.  PFAS is a family of toxic chemicals -- per/polyfluoroalkyl substances found in airport fire fighting foam.  Less than a week later, we are pleased to report that both the County administration and a County Legislator have declared that they will seek to implement key elements of our proposals to better safeguard our drinking water supplies and prevent further airport pollution.

County Legislator Nancy Barr (District 6 - Harrison, Port Chester, Rye Brook), who attended our press conference and chairs the environmental committee, wrote to us that, "I thought the press conference last week was informative and thorough and the Coalition’s recommendations make sense.  As you know, I feel very strongly about protecting the watershed and the drinking water supply."  She continued, "I plan to sponsor legislation to mandate continued regular airport water testing" as the Coalition proposed.  This testing was suspended by the prior County administration but restarted last fall by County Executive George Latimer.  Those tests revealed widespread PFAS contamination in groundwater monitoring wells on the airport property.  Barr declared she "will also sponsor legislation to ban firefighting foam containing PFAS as soon as this is permitted by the FAA. This legislation should also take into account the inventory and usage of PFAS currently at the airport, as well as a plan to switch to another permissible product."  The Coalition called for this new law and urged that all operators at the airport who may use firefighting foam prepare transition plans to speed adoption of safer foam alternatives once non-PFAS foam is allowed (by law no later than October, 2021).

County Executive George Latimer is on board as well.  Not only has he signaled that he will support the new legislation, but we are delighted that according to a senior official Latimer has apparently decided to go further: "Confirming our telephone conversation, we are working on preparing Executive Orders...to mandate the biannual ground water and surface water testing and to prohibit the use of [firefighting foam] containing PFAS once the FAA mandate" is removed.  

We applaud our elected officials for their open-mindedness and initiative, as well as their readiness to work together to move these ideas forward. And we feel hopeful that this heralds an era of productive collaboration on several fronts between the County and our airport coalition representing community and environmental stakeholders.

Click here to view our Press Release and here for our Presentation.  Click here to watch the press conference via Facebook or click here to view our 'Plane Sense' blog about the Press Conference.

P.S.  If our fledgling Coalition can have such a decisive and immediate impact on airport policy, imagine what we can do with a larger base of supporters. Now is the time to capitalize on this success by reaching out to your friends and neighbors (feel free to use this sample text) to point out the good work we are doing and encourage them to become supporters too.  Thank you for doing your part.