East Hampton residents call for further health studies after plume probe reveals chemical

While state officials say a chemical found in East Hampton drinking water near where a battery storage plant caught fire is unlikely to have caused harm, some residents are calling for more extensive health testing.

On Tuesday, state health and environmental officials briefed the town on contamination findings related to the May 2023 fire at a plant on Cove Hollow Road.

It took more than 30 hours to contain the thermal-runaway fire. In May, the Suffolk County Water Authority revealed in court filings the existence of a toxic plume that spread as far as 2,500 feet away from the facility. Last week, state officials identified the plant's fire suppression system as the primary cause of the fire.

A preliminary report released by the state Department of Environmental Conservation identified PFPrA, a forever chemical, in concentrations substantially higher than previously identified at Suffolk County wells.

PFPrA, the chemical detected in groundwater near the battery plant after the fire, clears the body in roughly two to three days, Gary Ginsberg, director of the Center for Environmental Health at the state Department of Health, said Tuesday. That makes it unlike longer-lasting PFAS compounds which can remain in the body for years and accumulate, he said.

“PFPrA is unlikely to build up in the body from ongoing exposures,” Ginsberg said.

“There is a lot of uncertainty,” he added. “We don't have all the answers to all the questions that have been raised today."

Ginsberg's presentation, made during an East Hampton Town Board work session, did little to quell residents’ concerns about how long they may have consumed potentially polluted water.

“When one ingests PFPrA for years, that toxin is replenished faster than we can excrete it,” resident Coleen Kalbacher said. She noted there was an almost three-year gap between the May 2023 fire and the recent pollution investigation.

“During this time, our morning coffee was peppered with PFPrA,” she said.

Olivia Baccarat, 21, who lives on Cove Hollow Road, said she was particularly worried about what exposure to the toxin could mean for her prospects of having children.

"I'm worried about the toxins we consumed,” she said. 

The DEC found concentrations of PFPrA as high as 10,000 parts per billion near the site. DEC officials believe PFPrA was created when Novec 1230, a waterless fire suppressant used during the blaze, mixed with water, Newsday has reported.

The SCWA found concentrations as high as 1,170 parts per billion in nearby wells. The utility has discontinued the use of four wells because of the pollution and is suing NextEra and National Grid, which developed the plant, in federal court.

PFPrA is part of a broad category of synthetic chemicals known as PFAS, which have been linked to cancer and other negative health effects.

Other residents questioned why the state has declined to conduct biomonitoring. Ginsberg said the state does not have a defined group of exposed residents with documented blood levels, making a health study difficult.

“It's not the ideal setup to do a health study,” he said.

East Hampton Town Board members also heard preliminary findings from the DEC's contamination investigation. DEC officials said they expect to release a final report by October or early November and make themselves available to answer questions from the community around then.