After a five-year investigation into groundwater contamination around State College Regional Airport, Penn State is about to take responsibility for an overall clean-up plan and ensuring nearly 40 homes with contaminated wells have drinkable water.
The university also would pay about $565,000 to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection under a proposed consent order and agreement obtained by StateCollege.com. The 33-page document identifies Penn State as “a responsible person” concerning “the release or threatened release” of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” — at the university-owned and -operated airport in Benner Township.
Still, affected homeowners said the proposal may not go far enough to protect them. DEP said it will review input from a 60-day public-comment period — due to start in early December — before deciding whether to finalize the Nov. 13 agreement, which it negotiated with the university.
Penn State would monitor and maintain home filtration systems already installed by DEP, but the commitment would not be an admission that the airport fouled those individual wells, according to the agreement. The university could cease that upkeep if DEP determines the systems are a “final remedy” or if affected homes connect to a public water supply, among other scenarios.
“If we have to take this expense on our own, we’ve got a problem,” said Terry Cable, 70, a 36-year resident of Walnut Grove Estates, just southeast of the airport.
The rural neighborhood includes most of the 37 homes listed by DEP where the department or a property owner has put in water filtration that removes PFAS from well water. So far, DEP has covered installation and upkeep costs, which Cable said include around $2,000 for individual filters and hundreds of dollars for routine tests.
At two other homes with PFAS above government thresholds for drinking water, DEP has provided bottled water after it offered filtration systems but got no response, according to the agreement. The federal Environmental Protection Agency classified some PFAS as hazardous just this year.
A fire-suppression foam that airports were federally required to use, with no alternative available until recently, is a potential source of the contamination. DEP “received no information indicating that the university had any knowledge of any hazards associated with the use of [the foam] at the time it may have been discharged,” according to the agreement.
“I’m grateful the DEP took some action to remedy at least the drinking water. I’m a little frustrated it took them so long to get where we are now,” said Rick Weyer, 66, who moved to Walnut Grove Estates in 2005. “I would like for my neighbor (Penn State) to come to me and say, ‘How do I make this right? We made a mistake. We contaminated your water. … And since you’re my neighbor, we need to make that right with you.’”
Blood tests have shown PFAS concentrations in Weyer’s body — and in his wife’s — much greater than national averages, leading him to undergo preventive checks for ailments correlated with the exposure, he said. “We have no idea how long we may have consumed these chemicals in our water.”
PFAS-Containing Firefighting Foam Was Federally Mandated
PFAS, a class of synthetic chemicals used widely since the 1950s, have become known more recently for their persistence in the environment, accumulation in the human body and potential health effects. Common in industry and in everyday products from packaging to cookware, they may be linked to greater risk of some cancers, altered metabolism and reduced immune ability, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Airports long used a PFAS-containing substance, aqueous film-forming foam, to fight fires and for training exercises. The Federal Aviation Administration mandated AFFF at airports including the Benner Township facility, Penn State has noted. (The airport dropped its former name — University Park Airport — about a year ago.)
The foam gained local attention when DEP began investigating PFAS contamination found in 2019 at three businesses near the airport. The investigation area covers more than 11 square miles bordered roughly by Buffalo Run Road to the north, Spring Creek and Big Hollow Road to the south, Rock Road and Barnes Lane to the east and Bernel Road to the west.
While a couple smaller establishments in the area reported some PFAS use, Penn State identified four airport locations where the firefighting foam may have been discharged in FAA-mandated training or testing, according to the negotiated agreement. The airport dates to the 1950s.
By 2020, investigative tests at the airport turned up elevated PFAS levels in groundwater.
Penn State hasn’t discharged any AFFF to the ground since that year, according to the agreement. The university has followed all regulations for AFFF, and the airport was the first in Pennsylvania to buy a new PFAS-free foam after federal rules changed in 2023, Penn State said.
The university “remains committed to protecting regional groundwater and safeguarding community health by collaborating with DEP and others to develop a comprehensive plan addressing concerns,” James Crandall, senior director of Penn State Environmental Health and Safety, said in a news release. “Our goal is to uphold our dedication to health, safety, sustainability and responsible resource management.”
Penn State didn’t directly answer a StateCollege.com question about whether it believes the airport is the PFAS source in the DEP investigation. Further investigation “may identify additional sources,” and DEP “will seek to address any and all identified sources’ responsibilities under the law,” the department said.
If finalized, the agreement with DEP would assign Penn State responsibility for developing and carrying out long-term response and clean-up plans under state environmental laws and oversight. Obligations would include “a thorough investigation into the groundwater plume,” DEP said, and could involve more on-site filtration systems if PFAS contamination turns up at additional homes or businesses.
The university would not discuss total expected expenses or how it plans to cover them. DEP reported spending more than $892,000 on its own investigation and responses to date, including home filtration systems. Penn State’s $565,000 payment would mark “a negotiated settlement that covers the majority of DEP’s costs for contractors,” the department said.
“Penn State is committed to adhering to the final consent order and its requirements,” the university added in a statement to StateCollege.com. “Both the state and the university are seeking to hold accountable the companies that sold and profited from PFAS-containing products.”
Monitoring PFAS contaminants is likely to be a years-long process driven by their location and any threats to tap-water sources, said Dave Yoxtheimer, a hydrogeologist with AquaLith Technologies in State College. Surveillance typically continues until concentrations fall to drinking-water standards or another agreed-upon threshold, he said.
“They’re really still finding new locations, new wells, residential wells where you’re starting to see PFAS contaminants be detected — or maybe they’re just finding homeowners whose wells haven’t been tested yet,” Yoxtheimer said.
Remedial measures could incorporate a variety of approaches, such as pumping out contaminated groundwater through recovery wells or installing public water service for affected homes, he said. Groundwater in the area is more than 200 feet underground and travels through a fractured karst aquifer, among the most complex geologic settings for pollution clean-up, Yoxtheimer added.
Municipal Water Service to Affected Homes Remains Uncertain
Back in Walnut Grove Estates, residents are interested in municipal water service for the 39 properties in their neighborhood. But the prospect remains uncertain. A study conducted for the State College Borough Water Authority shows the Benner Township Water Authority would be more suited to extend a line from a borough authority source, according to an Oct. 22 letter to township authority Chairman Thomas Eby.
The effort would require about $400,000 in upfront engineering, permitting and related expenses before state grant funding could kick in, Eby said. His agency serves a little more than 300 customers.
“Our authority does not have the funds to do this. We have a budget of only about $200,000, and that’s just maintaining our own customer base,” Eby said.
Still, he hasn’t given up. He has “been after every politician known to God, looking for funding and help.”
“It’s been a very difficult row to hoe. With the election season, it was difficult,” Eby said. “Now that that’s over, we start again.”
Adam Smeltz is a StateCollege.com contributor. Reach him at [email protected].
