The Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC) heard additional expert testimony Thursday on the toxicological findings related to per- and poly-fluoralalkyl substances (PFAS) in synthetic turf proposed for the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) athletic campus overhaul.
At the previous public hearing for phase one of the proposed project, an environmental consultant from Horsley Witten, the firm retained by the MVC to test the synthetic turf, suggested that understanding of PFAS is still limited.
This is the fifth public hearing held by the MVC on the project, and the second one focused largely on the chemicals contained within the synthetic turf.
During Thursday’s hearing, Laura Green of Green Toxicology, who spoke on behalf of the high school, said PFAS chemicals are “quite persistent” in the environment, with one factor being that they are so stable, and can endure a great amount of light and weather exposure.
“They do not break down under ultraviolet light. If they did, they would not be called forever chemicals,” Green said. “They do not break down under any conditions other than thousands of degrees Fahrenheit, such as in a cement kiln or a volcano.”
She said there is extensive understanding of these chemicals, and where the greatest source of exposure for humans lies.
“Our largest exposure to PFAS comes from freshwater fish and oysters,” she said, adding that septic effluent is one of the largest epicenters of PFAS.
Green said she calculated that if there are 15,000 septics over the main aquifer that are discharging effluent, the amount of PFAS entering the aquifer would be 1,000 to 10,000 times more than “could possibly leach from this field.”
“There is a lot more leachable material in ordinary soil fields. So if you do a side-by-side comparison, you will find that if you are concerned about protecting the aquifer, you should be more concerned about topsoil,” she said.
With projects like these, Green said, toxicologists normally focus on heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic, along with any crumb rubber infill.
She said that, with field designer Huntress Associates suggesting an alternative infill that is “literally cleaner than dirt,” the crumb rubber element of concern is eliminated.
“We understand that using recycled car and truck tires isn’t a good idea. Those are what turn into microplastic and things like that. That is not an issue with this field,” Green said.
Commissioner Ben Robinson identified a report relating to crumb rubber used for a synthetic turf field in the town of Hamden, Conn., in which Green concluded that “the evidence on crumb rubber and rubber mulch does not suggest, let alone demonstrate, that rubber mulch poses significant risk to the health of children or others.”
Ron Myrick, environmental engineer with Tetra Tech, the consulting firm that spearheaded the testing and remediation effort of PFAS at Martha’s Vineyard Airport, said he tested effluent from his own septic system, and was “not pleased with the results.”
“I tried to avoid using PFAS products, I got rid of my Teflon pans, I did various things to try to change it, and I still saw it in my effluent from my treatment system at numbers that were higher than I would have expected,” Myrick said. “These chemicals truly are in so many of our articles and things we use and consume. I don’t know how that will change anytime in the near future.”
Although there are still unknowns, Myrick said, he wouldn’t be worried about PFAS leachate entering groundwater from the proposed field.
“I will only say that I wouldn’t be overly concerned if I had a well near a synthetic turf field. And my town, Dover Sherborn, does have a synthetic turf field that has been there for about 10 years. It is a conservative town that is concerned about their water,” Myrick said.
Jeff Gearhart of the Ecology Center spoke on behalf of the Field Fund. Gearhart said the number of PFAS chemicals that are regulated and identified by agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection are just a fraction of the total PFAS compounds in existence today.
He noted that only a small number of PFAS have been identified as oxydizable precursors, meaning that they are inert, but could transform into compounds that are harmful. “One of the things my organization highlights when looking at this type of project is the life-cycle impacts of these materials: What are the upstream and downstream impacts of the decision you are making?” Gearhart said.
He stressed that the evolution of PFAS in the environment is still not understood by scientists, and cautioned commissioners to take any existing data into account with a grain of salt.
In his initial correspondence to the MVC, Gearhart suggested that elemental fluorine tests be performed, as these tests are able to identify fluorines contained in certain compounds that aren’t identifiable with the latest direct PFAS testing methods.
Gearhart also cautioned commissioners on relying too heavily on tests performed by Horsley Witten that rely on risk-based soil and groundwater standards, although these tests are considered customary.
He said it is difficult to imitate the level of use and environmental influences a synthetic field would be exposed to over something like a 10-year span, and noted that even the latest studies are limited in their understanding of long-term exposure.
“We really want to look at widely dispersed uses of these chemicals where we have high temperatures, high UV exposure, and lots of abrasion,” Gearhart said. “Those are scenarios where we are going to accelerate the potential breakdown and release of chemicals from something like turf.”
Gearhart said solid answers on any of these questions are going to be difficult to find, or may not yet exist. “I would not conclude that these are inert compounds,” he said.
He added that the paradigm used to measure PFAS only includes a small number of existing PFAS compounds, and said he questions anyone’s credibility who insists they know the fate of PFAS in the environment.
“When you have Dr. Green make a statement to you that there is no environmental health issue with this, I question her credibility on that. It’s not really truly understanding the life cycle of these chemicals. Everything she is citing is based on the science we do now, not on the science we need to be doing with these chemicals,” Gearhart said.
I am very upset by Mr Gearhard questioning Dr Green’s credentials. Dr Green is a certified toxicologist who earned her doctorate from MIT and works for both the Federal and state EPA organizations.
Mr Gearhard brought no evidence before the MVC commissioners just more irrational fears. I guess when you have no facts irrational fear will be your only path.