Hoylman wants to subpoena companies linked to Hoosick Falls pollution
ALBANY — State Sen. Brad Hoylman wants his colleagues to use their subpoena power to force the companies that have been linked to the water pollution crisis in Hoosick Falls to testify at next week’s joint legislative hearing.
Neither company — St. Gobain nor Honeywell — had representatives at Tuesday’s initial hearing at Hoosick Falls High School. Hoylman said that prevented lawmakers from pressing company officials about what they knew of PFOA, the chemical found in the village’s water supply and in the bloodstreams of many residents.
“We deserve to have the information in the public record and that information is necessary to fully inform our response as legislators to determine steps forward,” Hoylman, a Democrat from Manhattan, said Thursday. “How are we going to have a legislative response to this water crisis without getting information from the parties responsible.”
According to a Honeywell spokeswoman, lawmakers did not invite company officials to participate in Tuesday’s Senate hearing.
“To the best of our knowledge, we did not receive a request to testify at the state Senate hearing,” the spokeswoman, Victoria Streitfeld, said. “We remain responsive and cooperative and committed to addressing environmental conditions in the community.”
A spokesman for Republican Sen. Kathy Marchione, who represents Hoosick Falls and chaired Tuesday’s hearing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dina Pokedoff, a St. Gobain spokeswoman, acknowledged the company was invited but was “unable” to send a representative.
“We will continue to work with local, state and federal officials as much as possible so that the residents of Hoosick Falls can continue to access clean drinking water,” she said.
A representative from SKDKnickerbocker, which St. Gobain hired in the wake of the crisis, sat in the audience for much of Tuesday’s hearing.
Still, Hoylman has sent a letter to Sen. Tom O’Mara, chairman of the chamber’s environmental conservation committee chair, and Sen. Kemp Hannon of Long Island, the co-chair, encouraging them to use the committee’s subpoena power.
Hannon has previously said he doesn’t want to use subpoena power because it could complicate the hearings. In an interview Wednesday on The Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter, he said lawsuits filed against the companies mean they would fight back against a subpoena in court.
“The difficulty of a subpoena is it can simply result in standoffs from one side to the other,” he said.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Marchione said she wanted to hear from the companies, but focused much of her criticism on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for not attending.
Much of Tuesday’s hearing centered on deflecting blame for the pollution crisis. Much less attention was devoted to the companies linked to the pollution.
The next hearing, a joint session with member of both the Senate and Assembly, is scheduled for Wednesday, in Albany.