Residents urge DEC to hold public hearing and deny proposed Clean Earth PFAS soils permit in Ft. Edward

FORT EDWARD, NY — Local residents, educators, parents and environmental advocates are calling on the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to hold a formal public hearing and deny a research permit sought by Clean Earth for the processing of PFAS-contaminated soils at its Fort Edward facility.

Clean Earth, operating as ESMI, has for years remediated soils contaminated with petroleum and other hazardous substances, including PCBs, at its Fort Edward site. The company is now seeking a research, development and demonstration permit that would allow it to import up to 5,000 tons of soil contaminated with PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” for experimental heat treatment. Clean Earth’s parent company, Enviri, which is currently under acquisition proceedings by the multinational corporation Veolia of France, has told investors it intends to make the Fort Edward facility a Northeast hub for heat-treating PFAS-contaminated soil. Veolia has said the acquisition would make it the second-largest hazardous waste processor in North America.

According to community advocates, Clean Earth previously conducted an unsuccessful heat-treatment experiment on PFAS-contaminated soil at the Fort Edward facility in 2018 without public disclosure or emissions monitoring. A separate test on PFAS-contaminated soil, not involving heat treatment, was conducted in 2024, also without public disclosure.

PFAS are a large class of synthetic chemicals that persist in the environment and are difficult to destroy. Exposure to certain PFAS compounds has been linked to cancers, reproductive and developmental effects, ulcerative colitis and kidney damage. PFAS can also bioaccumulate in ecosystems and food chains.

The citizen group The Fort Stops PFAS argues the proposed permit would add new environmental and public-health burdens to an area already affected by decades of industrial contamination, including PCBs. The group notes that Fort Edward Elementary School and the Junior-Senior High School are located within one mile of the Clean Earth facility, along with residential neighborhoods and community parks.

A Public Participation Plan was triggered in late 2024 because of the facility’s proximity to identified Disadvantaged Communities and Potential Environmental Justice Areas. As part of that plan, Clean Earth was required to hold two in-person public information meetings, both of which were well attended, according to organizers.

Community members and technical experts are urging the DEC to evaluate the cumulative impacts of PFAS processing at the site before making any permit decision.

“As both an educator and a parent in this community, I have spent my career working to protect people who often have the least power to protect themselves — our children, our elderly neighbors, and families who simply want to live in a healthy environment,” said Jessica Donnelly, a Hudson Falls resident and organizer with The Fort Stops PFAS. “Our region has already paid a high price for industrial decisions that placed profit over public health. Allowing PFAS-contaminated materials to be processed here without a public hearing and a full cumulative-impact review continues that pattern.”

The proposed RD&D permit would allow Clean Earth to process up to 5,000 tons of PFAS-contaminated soil of undisclosed concentration or origin. Advocates say more than 15,000 PFAS compounds have been identified as emerging contaminants of concern, and they argue that allowing such materials to be brought into Fort Edward without full disclosure is unacceptable.

Residents also cite concerns about the proposed treatment method, noting that PFAS are not found in nature and are unusually difficult to destroy. Technical experts have questioned whether the temperatures proposed by Clean Earth would be sufficient to fully break down PFAS compounds. The Fort Stops PFAS has also raised concerns that the project would not include real-time monitoring of emissions, meaning byproducts of incomplete treatment could be released into the community before being identified.

When released into the air through dust or stack emissions, PFAS can settle onto land and water, contaminating soils, streams and groundwater. The most common exposure pathway for PFAS is ingestion through drinking water or food, though exposure can also occur through inhalation or skin contact.

Advocates point to a recent DEC decision involving another proposed facility as precedent. In 2024, the DEC denied permits for Saratoga Biochar, a proposed sewage-sludge biochar plant at the Moreau Industrial Park that residents argued would have posed PFAS-related health risks.

Tracy Frisch, founder of the Clean Air Action Network of Glens Falls, was involved in the effort to oppose Saratoga Biochar. “Clean Earth’s scheme to truck in thousands of tons of PFAS-contaminated soil to the village of Fort Edward is a major threat to the health and welfare of area residents and to the future of the village,” Frisch said. “PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ don’t break down and ironically, just like PCBs which, thanks to GE, already plague the area, PFAS bioaccumulate up the food chain. Our organization, CAAN, supports the remediation of PFAS-contaminated soil, but it must be done with the utmost caution by a responsible company using proven methods at the contaminated site. Common sense tells us that materials contaminated with these hazardous chemicals should never be trucked into over-burdened communities that are not contaminated with PFAS, such as Fort Edward.”

Community members say, as with Saratoga Biochar, Clean Earth has not provided detailed information on PFAS concentrations in the soils it proposes to process. They also note that the DEC previously determined Saratoga Biochar’s proposed temperatures would not have been sufficient to destroy PFAS, and argue similar concerns apply to the Clean Earth application.

Residents are calling on the DEC to account for existing environmental and health burdens in the region and to provide meaningful public participation through a DEC-hosted public hearing.

“The public comment period is not a formality — it is the community’s opportunity to be heard,” Donnelly said. “Given the history of this region and the serious health risks associated with PFAS, the DEC must hold a public hearing and ultimately deny this permit.”

New York’s Environmental Justice Siting Law requires state agencies to consider whether proposed facilities would place disproportionate environmental and public-health burdens on disadvantaged communities already facing cumulative pollution impacts.

Public comments on the ESMI/Clean Earth RD&D permit for PFAS-contaminated soils in Fort Edward may be submitted to the DEC through Jan. 31. Comments may request a public hearing, address cumulative environmental impacts or express opposition to the permit.

Written comments may be submitted by email to Beth Magee, Division of Environmental Permits, at dec.sm.ESMI@dec.ny.gov or by mail to NYSDEC, 232 Golf Course Road, Warrensburg, NY 12885. The Fort Stops PFAS encourages residents of Fort Edward, Hudson Falls and surrounding communities to participate in the comment process and offers assistance with submitting comments at thefortstopspfas@gmail.com