BURRILLVILLE, R.I. — Town officials have paused the installation of an artificial turf field at the high school following legal action from a local resident.
Roberta Lacey, a member of the town’s Conservation Commission and staunch opponent of the synthetic field, filed a complaint in Providence County Superior Court last month asking the court to stop the project, arguing it will contaminate local drinking water sources with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
Known as forever chemicals, PFAS are a group of substances found in a slew of products, including food packaging and firefighting foam, and they have been linked to a variety of health problems.
The lawsuit also argues that testing done on the turf materials to determine their safety wasn’t adequate, and because of the presence of PFAS in the materials, two of which the Environmental Protection Agency has designated as hazardous materials, and its proximity to the aquifer, permits for the project should have gone through the town’s Zoning Board of Review.
Town Council President Donald Fox told ecoRI News the suit’s complaints were baseless and that he was frustrated to see taxpayer money spent on defending the field.
Fox pointed to testing and an assessment by engineering firm TRC, paid for by the town, which he said showed the field would not pose a threat to local drinking water.
“Based on evaluations performed to date, it has been demonstrated that the detection of very low levels of a very limited number of PFAS in the artificial turf does not represent a human health risk to those using the artificial turf ballfields and it does not pose a risk to the environment, the groundwater, the surface water, and the aquifer,” TRC wrote in a report from August posted on the town’s website.
“We’re disappointed to see this short delay,” Fox said. “We’ll have our ability to make our case.”
Lacey declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation.
Adam Schatz, a member of the Conservation Commission who has spoken up against the project, said he hopes the judge will listen to the complaint and “move forward in a different direction.”
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense from, you know, a long-term standpoint, and obviously the environmental impacts are significant as well,” Schatz said.
He referred to a law passed in the last legislative session that will ban artificial turf fields in Rhode Island that knowingly contain PFAS in 2027.
A letter from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and Department of Health to the town warned officials that any maintenance or replacement of the field after that date would be subject to that law.
The letter also noted that the town would be responsible for remediation of drinking water sources contaminated by the field, and included information about potential PFAS contamination in North Smithfield caused by an artificial turf field there.
The next hearing about the case is scheduled for Oct. 15.
SOURCE: https://ecori.org/lawsuit-delays-installation-of-artificial-turf-field-in-burrillville/
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