Updated at 3:43 p.m. with a statement from GlobalFoundries.
Labor and environmental groups are calling for GlobalFoundries to stop releasing “forever chemicals” from its semiconductor plant into the Winooski River.
Water samples submitted to state regulators since 2023 show 17 different PFAS present in wastewater regularly released into the river from the Essex Junction plant.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of toxic synthetic compounds widely used in products such as paints, waterproof clothing, nonstick cookware and firefighting foam. They are so resistant to natural breakdown that they build up, or bioaccumulate, in the environment, including in drinking water.
Some experts say remediating PFAS pollution will be the most expensive undertaking humanity faces after addressing climate change.
The group CHIPS Communities United issued a press release about the test results on Tuesday. The organization is advocating for some of the $280 billion in federal funding from the 2022 CHIPS Act to be spent protecting the environment from forever chemicals from semiconductor plants across the nation.
In response, GlobalFoundries said the group's statement was "misleading."
"As part of our ongoing efforts to reduce or eliminate the use and discharge of PFAS in our semiconductor manufacturing processes, we have already replaced the most concerning materials, and we have ongoing projects to reduce the wastewater discharge concentrations at our Essex Junction facility," the company said in a prepared statement.
The group highlighted a recent data analysis conducted by Lenny Siegel, the former mayor of Mountain View, Calif., home to a former Intel plant that is now a Superfund site. Siegel is the executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, which oversees the cleanup of such sites.
Courtesy Of Globalfoundries
A GlobalFoundries employee on the production floor in Essex Junction
Vermont is the only state that requires testing for PFAS in effluent from a semiconductor plant.
“That makes it a really interesting test case,” said Judith Barish, the group’s spokesperson.
The state limits levels in drinking water for five PFAS compounds known to be dangerous. The limit for all five combined is 20 parts per trillion. There are no limits, however, on PFAS releases into surface waters such as rivers and creeks.
Establishing such standards is extremely difficult, in part because of a lack of research on the impact of PFAS on aquatic environments, said Matt Chapman, director of the waste management and prevention division of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The agency has been waiting for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to set federal standards, which it has yet to do, he said.
In 2021, in the wake of the discovery of contaminated drinking water wells in Bennington, the state required testing of effluent released from GlobalFoundries into the river. The results found detectable levels of all five regulated PFAS chemicals, according to the group.
In 2023, regulators required testing be expanded to 35 related compounds, according to the group. Siegel analyzed data from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and found detectable levels of 17 PFAS in the effluent.
Combined, the concentrations of the five regulated compounds ranged from 42 to 58 parts per trillion, and for all 17 it was 290 to 417 parts per trillion.
“These toxic chemicals build up in the environment, so any release should be prevented,” Siegel said in the release. “Manufacturers introduce new PFAS compounds faster than they can be studied, but as far as we know, all of them are hazardous.”
Since discovering the test results, GlobalFoundries has been “proactive” about finding ways to eliminate PFAS from its discharges, Chapman said. This includes exploring non-PFAS alternatives and improving its treatment process to divert PFAS-laden liquids from the plant’s current industrial wastewater system. Those liquids would be collected into a separate tank and treated offsite as hazardous waste, Chapman said.
CHIPS Communities United is a coalition of labor and community groups. One of the members is the Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition, which has advocated for cleanup of the PFAS contamination at the Vermont Air National Guard base, just downriver from the GlobalFoundries plant.
That contamination is connected to the base’s longtime use of firefighting foam laced with PFAS. The chemicals are suspected to have polluted groundwater in the area, including at a neighboring dairy farm. The sprawling GlobalFoundries property also contains contaminated soil and groundwater around a former fire station.
“As a neighbor of GlobalFoundries, I’m horrified to learn these poisonous chemicals are flowing into the Winooski River and Lake Champlain,” Marguerite Adelman, of the Vermont PFAS/Military Poisons Coalition, said in the release. “No factory should release hazardous substances into our local environment, but particularly not companies receiving taxpayer subsidies.”
In February, the U. S. Department of Commerce announced $1.5 billion in proposed grants and loans to GlobalFoundries to expand chip production capabilities in Essex Junction and Malta, N.Y.
The local branch of the Sierra Club joined the call for GlobalFoundries to clean up its act. Robb Kidd, its conservation program manager, called the data disturbing.
“As Vermont and the rest of the country transition to clean energy and clean transportation, we must make sure semiconductor factories are not exposing workers, neighbors, and Mother Earth to poisonous waste — it’s time for accountability,” he wrote.
In 2019, Vermont sued
DuPont, 3M and other chemical companies for damages it says were caused to groundwater, drinking water and other natural resources by PFAS contamination.
While it is frustrating to not have the EPA move more quickly on a national surface water standard, Chapman said the state is working to regulate products containing PFAS, as well as their discharge from known waste sources such as landfills and wastewater treatment plants.
"I think we have a commitment as a department to work toward phasing PFAS out of consumer products and industrial processes throughout the state. It's not an easy process," he told Seven Days.