The Senate Finance Committee approved a measure Wednesdayto help Amherst residents get access to clean drinking water.
According to the Assistant Environment Services Commissioner Clark Freise, more than 100 homes in the town have been contaminated by the chemical PFOA.
“A number of the homes in this area are over that limit, some of them significantly over that limit – some cases 4 to 5 times that limit. We are trying to scramble and get into those areas and get them onto public water as quickly as possible,” Freise told lawmakers.
Under the proposal, the state would lend $5 million from a special drinking water trust fund to Textiles Coated International, the company responsible for the contamination. The money will be used to construct new water lines and TCI would then have to pay back the state with interest.
Gov. Chris Sununu in a statement commended the bill stating, “This is an excellent example of a prudent use of the Trust Fund, as the legislative and executive branches are working together to employ existing expertise and responsible corporate citizenship to solve a real problem.”