ALBANY – The State Health Department has canceled a meeting of its Public Health and Health Planning Council set for Thursday to address proposed drinking water standards for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-dioxane.
In a late-afternoon email from Albany on Monday, the department cited its continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the need to reschedule the session at a later date.
The delay is a concern to Environmental Advocates of New York, said Robert Hayes, its clean water associate.
“The Department of Health has certainly played a big role in protecting public health during the pandemic and we really see these drinking water standards piece to those public health protections,” he said. “Clean water is more important than ever right now. It is essential to keep people safe and healthy.”
Support for swift movement ahead on the water issue came from Senator James Skoufis, who noted the City of Newburgh in his district is one of the areas most heavily impacted by water contamination from those chemicals. Hoosick Falls and Long Island have also suffered from that PFOA and PFOS contamination.
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