Burrillville Town Council rolling the dice on artificial turf and PFAS, gambling the town's water, health, and future

Attorney Desautel noted that previous exposures of the Town’s aquifers to both MTBE and PFAS led Burrillville to enact strong language to protect the water in the future.

The special meeting of the Burrillville Town Council to discuss the installation of artificial turf at Burrillville High School lasted over three hours. All but two members of the public who spoke to the committee were opposed. Letters received by the Town Council ran 40-27 in opposition. At issue is the potential for PFAS contamination of the aquifer. Burrillville depends on its aquifers for its drinking water and has had at least two major bouts of contamination: MTBE in 2001 and PFAS in 2017. As a result, Burrillville has strong language in its town ordinances to prevent future contamination.

Despite the efforts of opponents and the existence of legal action, the hearing ended with Council President Donald Fox doubling down. [All quotes have been edited for clarity]

“I am excited about this field coming to our community,” said Council President Fox. “I'm excited for the athletes. I'm excited for the students who are going to play on it. I am happy that we've had the opportunity to provide these facts here tonight. I know some people are going to deny the facts. I understand it and that's okay. And that's your prerogative. We have demonstrated that this field is safe. It's safe for the students, it's safe for the athletes, it's safe for the teachers, it's safe for the aquifer, it's safe for our environment.

“All of you drove here tonight in cars that emit emissions. The EPA sets the safe standards for those emissions. The EPA has set standards for many things, including these chemicals. If you sit there and put your mouth on the pipe of your car, I guarantee you're going to die if you keep sucking it in. Okay? But there are standards set for all ranges of chemicals in our world. We don't live in a world of 0.00. What we've demonstrated tonight is that this field is safe and it's going to be a boon for our athletes and for this academic athletic complex. Thank you all.”

You can watch the full video here, but be warned. While the audio is fine for Council President Fox, it is at times inaudible when it comes time for the public to comment.

Council President Fox began the meeting by setting the rules for public comment and suggested that those who violated the rules would be removed from the room. He then explained that because of a lawsuit from Burrillville resident Roberta Lacey, there would be “a much more limited back and forth than any of us had hoped.” [This statement is nonsensical because, as Council President Fox admitted, the Town Council had been appraised about the possibility of legal action for at least two months. This meeting was scheduled with full knowledge of the pending legal action so it seems there was never any intention of a more robust “back and forth.”]

Here are some selections from the Council President’s opening salvo:

“I have the authority to suspend a person's right to speak subject to the council's right to overrule such a decision. I want to remind everyone that this is not Facebook. This is a special meaning of the Burrillville Town Council.

“People are here for and against the [artificial] field at this meeting. If you want to speak, you will be able to do it without fear of negative commentary or heckling.¹ Every speaker this evening will be shown respect. If an individual in the audience cannot abide by those rules of decorum while others are speaking, they'll be asked to leave so that the rest of us can conduct our meeting properly.

"We are here because a group of residents have raised concerns about chemicals known collectively as PFAS. I had hoped to have a more robust discussion this evening, but just last night the town was sued in Superior Court by Ms. Roberta Lcaey. As such, I'm going to read a statement from Solicitor William Dimitri regarding the complaint:

“September 5th, 2024. We received notice yesterday from Attorney Marisa Desautel that she would be filing a complaint in Providence County Superior Court seeking a contemporary restraining order and eventually injunctive relief that would bar the town from proceeding with the installation of artificial turf. The complaint was filed this morning. Counsel did receive a courtesy copy last night and it was agreed earlier in the day yesterday that we should schedule the argument on the motion for 11:00 AM this morning.

"The crux of the plaintiff's complaint against the defendants - the town of Burville, the town council members, the zoning board of review, and the building official - is that PFAS will likely have a detrimental impact on the town's aquifer and existing wells. Plaintiff and counsel have the TRC report and the analytical report from Eurofin conducted its scientific tests on the turf intended to be used in the field.

"Plaintiff argued that the report or reports misrepresent other reports from previous samplings and test data from other states. In defense counsel read a few portions of the report into the record to show the court that the town had performed its due diligence in having the artificial turf tested and examined relative to the presence of PFAS. Also pointed out was in correspondence from DEM and DOH, the statement that ‘the scientific literature has yet to produce a study conclusively linking artificial turf fields with PFAS contamination and groundwater." After both sides’ arguments to the court, the court was satisfied based on what was before it that the plaintiff had not satisfied its burden of proving that she had a likelihood of success on the merits nor did she satisfy her burden of proving irreparable harm to her or the environment.

"The court set the matter down for a September 13th for September 13th for a status conference which provides both parties time to submit exhibits, test results, et cetera and to provide the town an opportunity to file an answer to the complaint. At this time it is anticipated that the court will schedule a full hearing on the merits of the plaintiff's complaint at which testimony will be taken and considered by the court before it rules on the plaintiff's complaint for injunctive relief. William C. Dimitri Esquire, we were notified about the possibility of legal action by Ms. Lacey's lawyers some time ago. They were required to give us a 60-day notice based on certain requirements. We asked her and the group to wait for the facts to be presented. That's what we're supposed to be doing tonight [but] because of the legal action [by] Ms. Lacey, there will be a much more limited back and forth than any of us had hoped.”

Council President Fox then talked about the series of experts he had lined up to defend the Town Council's position that the proposed artificial turf field is safe and will have no effect on the aquifer. Though a lot was said during the presentations, the upshot comes down to, as Council President Fox admitted, we don't know for sure.

“...[I]n correspondence from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and the Department of Health, the statement [was made] that ‘the scientific literature has yet to produce a study conclusively linking artificial turf fields with PFAS contamination and groundwater.’”

This statement doesn't preclude such a study in the future, or that existing studies show pathways toward future studies that could make such a link concrete. It even allows for studies suggestive of, but not conclusively proving, such contamination being likely. As Carl Sagan once said, “Absense of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

The town's handpicked presenters can be seen in the video linked above at the 7m52s mark. After the presentations, the Council President made a public statement that I’m presenting here in an edited form:

“The test results... have shown that there is no danger to our aquifer [or] our athletes from this field... This project will not affect our environment. It will not affect our aquifer in drinking water nor will it affect human health. Participants using this field are not in danger from PFAS.”

Then the time came for public comment. You can watch the public comment in the video linked above at the 1h20m mark. As noted previously, the audio quality of the special meeting recording, when it comes to the public speakers, is terrible.

When Burrillville resident Roberta Lacey's Attorney, Marisa Desautel, rose to speak, Council President Fox attempted to shut her down, saying that all members of the public who did not live in Burrillville “might” be allowed to speak at the very end of the meeting, time permitting, but after some back and forth, Attorney Desautel was allowed to address the Council.

“From a land use and zoning perspective, the town has dealt with contaminated water before,” said Attorney Desautel, “After that happened, this town put in place regulations to make sure that that didn't happen again. It is our client's position that this project violates these regulations that you put in place and light of EPA's recent listing of PFAS, this project has the potential to cause additional harm.”

Attorney Desautel noted that previous exposures of the Town’s aquifers to both MTBE and PFAS led Burrillville to enact strong language to protect the water in the future. Burrillville is entirely dependent on its aquifers for water. Significant contamination could destroy home values and the town. Attorney Desautel maintained that the language in the Town's statutes prevents the installation of any material that may cause harm to human health if discharged into the water.

After attempting to prevent Roberta Lacey's lawyer from speaking, Council President Fox moved to prevent Lacey's expert witness from speaking, because she also did not reside in Burrillville. [It should be noted that few, if any of the people the Council put forward during their lengthy presentations in support of the project were Town residents.]

In the end, all but two Burrillville residents who testified at the special meeting were in favor of the artificial turf.

Undeterred, Council President Fox ended the special meeting with the words at the top of this piece. If opponents of the artificial turf do not prevail in court, the artificial turf will be installed. Then Burrillville will become a test case for whether or not artificial turf contaminates aquifers with PFAS.

[See also: Burrillville residents battling Town Council over forever chemicals in artificial turf]

1. Negative comments such as: “I know there are people who are going to deny the facts. I understand it and that's okay. And that's your prerogative.” ?