When Cuomo administration learned upstate NY residents were being poisoned, it did this

By Rusty Weiss
When Cuomo administration learned upstate NY residents were being poisoned, it did this

New reports indicate that the administration of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ignored information about a cancer-causing chemical found in the water supply of the town of Hoosick Falls. Documents obtained by Politico show that the New York State Department of Health not only dismissed warnings from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) but refused to alert residents of the very dangerous situation.

Over a year ago, health department officials issued a “fact sheet” indicating that “health effects are not expected to occur from normal use of the water” within days of a contradictory declaration by the EPA advising residents not to drink or cook with the water.

According to a senior EPA official’s handwritten notes from a phone conference with state officials, Health Department employees argued that their differences with the federal authorities were a matter of “philosophy,” not science.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

New York’s own Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently launched an investigation into ExxonMobil for similar reasons involving “climate change” and ignoring what he deems settled science. Will he investigate the Cuomo administration?

Worse, Hoosick Falls residents are now starting to receive blood test results which confirm fears that the contaminated water has poisoned them with cancer-causing chemicals.

Via Politico:

In the last few days, people throughout Hoosick Falls have received blood test results back that show far higher results of toxic chemicals in their bloodstream than what the state claims is the mean for the area, which is itself 11 times higher than the national number. People in Hoosick Falls say they are receiving blood tests of that are more than 50 or 100 times the national number.

The median number, 23 parts per billion, may be skewed by the inclusion of town residents with private wells who did not drink the town’s tainted water. Ominously, (Hoosick Falls residents Rob) Allen said, among the dozens of people with whom he has spoken in town, young children seem to be displaying far higher numbers than their parents.

Allen said he feels betrayed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration and by elected officials who waited more than a year to warn village residents away from drinking their water, which was tainted with PFOA by nearby facilities that made teflon products.

[…]

The dire news emerging from Hoosick Falls in the last few days confirms what many had feared. Hundreds of people, from babies to the elderly, have a dangerous level of toxic chemical in their blood stream.

Cuomo officials have been telling reporters that the results range from “non-detect” to 200 parts per billion, which is far below some of the high numbers residents are saying they received.

CBS 6 reporter Emily DeFiciani tweeted this image of a residents blood test results which show her at “about 160x the national median of 2.08.”

The Cuomo administration knew that residents of Hoosick Falls were being poisoned, with children being disproportionately affected. Where is the media outcry? Where are the presidential candidates demanding an investigation à la Flint?

Surely such a travesty should create a groundswell of bipartisan activity to resolve the issue and try to find out where state officials went wrong. Sadly, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Republican Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin has been calling for hearings into the Hoosick Falls crisis, but it has mostly fallen on deaf ears.

McLaughlin took to social media to get his point across, even asking Senators [score]Kirsten Gillibrand[/score] and [score]Chuck Schumer[/score], “When the hell are you going to say or do something?”

Thus far, nothing but crickets coming from lawmakers.

Politico reports that the concerns of residents “may as well be happening on another planet.”

Planned hearings on water quality issues have been cancelled. With the legislative session ending in just over a week, it’s unlikely lawmakers will discuss “the state’s most significant environmental crises in years.”

According to the report, politicians on both sides of the aisle literally fled from questions being posed by journalists:

Senate GOP Majority Leader John Flanagan walked away from a reporter on Monday rather than answer a question as to why he had not called for legislative hearings into water quality issues around the state. On Tuesday, Basil Seggos, acting commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation, left his bag behind because he skipped out of a committee hearing so quickly before a reporter could ask him questions.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers holding a press conference on a new bill that would expand testing for lead in school water supplies bristled when asked whether Hoosick Falls situation required that the legislation be broadened to include other contaminants. They ended the press conference shortly after reporters started asking about Hoosick Falls.

It’s reminiscent of a few months ago when State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, the man who used the safety of his imaginary kids to help Governor Cuomo squash fracking in New York, scurried away while “his staff physically blocked three reporters who repeatedly tried to ask the commissioner” about water issues in Hoosick Falls.

Unfortunately, the poisoned residents of Hoosick Falls and their children can’t run away from the situation the way these cowards at the state Capitol can.

They deserve better than this. It’s time to hold the hearings.

Cross-posted at the Mental Recession

Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss is editor of the Mental Recession, one of the top conservative blogs of 2012. His writings have appeared at the Daily Caller, American Thinker, FoxNews.com, Big Government, the Times Union, and the Troy Record.

Comments

For your convenience, you may leave commments below using Disqus. If Disqus is not appearing for you, please disable AdBlock to leave a comment.