Penn State will pay more than $564K after investigation into drinking water contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’

Penn State will pay more than $564,000 toward the ongoing cleanup of contaminated drinking water affecting dozens of homes near the university’s airport in Benner Township.

The action is the result of a proposed agreement the university signed earlier this month with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, following a roughly five-year state investigation into a group of hazardous chemicals called PFAS in local groundwater.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down naturally, were widely used in consumer and industrial products for decades starting in the mid-20th century, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to higher risks of some cancers, developmental delays in children, negative effects on the body’s immune system, and decreased fertility.

Penn State is a “responsible person” for the “release or threatened release of PFAS” at the State College Regional Airport (formerly the University Park Airport), according to the agreement. The chemicals were in federally mandated firefighting foam used at the airport. The airport now uses PFAS-free foam, according to a university statement.

However, per the consent order, Penn State does not admit responsibility that PFAS released at the airport contaminated groundwater.

Under the agreement, the university will pay the DEP more than half a million dollars to partially reimburse the state for its investigation and response efforts, which included providing bottled water and installing treatment systems for dozens of affected residents and businesses in rural Centre County. The state spent more than $892,000 in its work, according to the document.

Going forward, Penn State will test the wells, provide bottled water, and maintain the treatment systems. However, according to the order, the university will not be responsible for those costs if any of the following occur:

• The affected properties get access to public water.

• Another party is deemed responsible for the contamination.

• The private wells are determined to be outside the areas affected by the airport contamination.

• The state approves the existing treatment systems as the “final remedy” for safe drinking water.

• If eight consecutive quarterly water samples show PFAS levels below a certain threshold.

The agreement is not final, and the public can submit comments over a 60-day period starting in early December, a DEP spokesperson told Spotlight PA. Information about how to submit a comment will be available in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and the Centre Daily Times, as well as on the DEP’s website about the investigation.

Residents told Spotlight PA the proposed agreement might not fully protect them. They worry cleanup costs could eventually be passed onto them and put them on the hook for hundreds if not thousands of dollars in annual expenses.

“We didn’t contaminate our wells, so why would we be responsible for paying the costs of treating our water?” said Rick Weyer, a resident of Walnut Grove Estates, a neighborhood in Benner Township that’s near the University Park campus.

In 2019, the state began sampling water from areas where PFAS were commonly used, including fire training locations, landfills, military bases, and manufacturing facilities. Well tests from three businesses near the State College airport revealed levels of the chemicals above the federal health advisory limit at the time. That threshold has since been lowered.

Penn State declined to answer questions from Spotlight PA about how it would fund its payment to the state. The university is pursuing legal action against some PFAS manufacturers that it argues are responsible for local drinking water contamination. Penn State is also seeking taxpayer funds from the federal and state governments to offset the costs, according to the university’s website.

The university will continue the investigation “until DEP is satisfied that the contamination is thoroughly understood,” a DEP spokesperson said.

For years, residents worried what the contamination could mean for their health and questioned why the state took roughly two years to test the wells at their homes after PFAS were first detected nearby, as previously reported by Spotlight PA. Longtime residents might have been consuming the chemicals for years.