PRESS RELEASE

JOSEPH RUGGIERO RESPONDS TO STEINHAUS' WELL TESTING INITIATIVE

On Thursday September 6th 2007 William Steinhaus released his so-called initiative to address the issue of widespread and growing groundwater contamination in Dutchess County. It is nothing more than a cynical effort to deflect attention from his well-documented history of obstruction to any real effort to address the impending crisis in our county. His refusal to enforce the Dutchess County Board of Health's well-water testing rules and his veto of the county legislature's well-testing law, a law with widespread support among Republican and Democratic town leaders alike, speaks far more eloquently to Mr. Steinhaus's attention to this issue than his sham-scientific proposal.

"I have always been a proponent of sensible, comprehensive and mandatory well-water testing," Mr. Ruggiero said. "My law passed earlier this year was not an election year conversion designed simply to deflect attention from prior inaction. It is a shame that our towns must take such incomplete, stop-gap action to address this problem in the face of the county's inaction"

Although Steinhaus claims that he has " ... been very focused in ... efforts to ensure groundwater safety in Dutchess County," this assertion comes from an office that in the past conducted tests on public and municipal wells, tests that turned up contamination sites, but which consequently then failed to notify nearby neighborhoods who's private wells share the same contaminated water table. These are the same tests that Steinhaus now has the audacity to cite as a step forward for the county in his blizzard of press releases and speeches. Although these tests found contaminants, nothing was done to ensure the safety of residents in the surrounding areas. Mailings telling people that it is recommended that they test their water just aren't enough; results of these contaminations must be made public. Why is Steinhaus backtracking now on his previous neglectful behavior? Could it possibly be because we are now in an election year? Mr. Steinhaus, your election year conversion is simply too little too late.

Steinhaus' new initiative claims it will use "Countywide, science based selection of well sources." The simple truth is that there is no "scientific" way of determining where contamination may have occurred: it can happen anywhere. Testing only in and around already established superfund sites and high risk areas will do nothing for the citizens relying on the groundwater in areas of the county that have not yet been identified as contaminated but where problems do in fact exist. Random sampling simply isn't enough, contamination can touch one part of a neighborhood and leave the other part unharmed. Only by requiring residents to test their wells in every area of the county can we actually collect the data needed to understand and remediate the serious problem of groundwater contamination in Dutchess County.

Steinhaus' new initiative depends on people volunteering their wells to be tested at the county's expense. There will be no direct cost to the homeowner but the funds for these tests will have to come from somewhere. The taxpayers will be forced to pay for the results of these random tests. These are the same taxpayers who are paying for Mr. Steinhaus' media blitz which uses county money for radio ads with his voice telling people he cares and mailers with his face plastered on them. This is another example of Steinhaus' misguided attempt to drum up support in an election year, but this time the taxpayer is footing the bill.

Steinhaus' new initiative claims to "provide data which will be used in conjunction with existing databases of water test data." And that this data "will be compared with the Public Water Supply database, information from private test wells in subdivisions and the NYS Attorney General/NYS Department of Environmental Conservation joint test-buytyl ether testing program." But, in truth, very little data currently exists on groundwater contamination. In point of fact, the NYS Attorney General/NYS Department of Environmental Conservation joint test database his initiative speaks about is a fledgling project that will not provide significant data for years to come. How many lives must be adversely affected before we have meaningful results? His so-called initiative amounts to comparing very little data with no data in order to duplicate exactly what his administration has accomplished over the last sixteen years of neglect - nothing. How many people from Hyde Park to East Fishkill to communities yet un-named must suffer the long term health consequences of this administration's failure to act, consequences that have already affected adversely the health of numerous county residents.

Rather than pursue Mr. Steinhaus's "fig leaf" proposal, what Dutchess County needs is the already existing initiative that he vetoed. Debra Hall, a representative of Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water, says "Steinhaus' new initiative is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. He has ignored the threat of groundwater contamination for too long and this new initiative is one more example of him playing games with the health and safety of our residents." Without mandatory testing people will never test their wells in sufficient numbers to develop the data base we need. Without intensive widespread testing of private wells the county will never be able to diagnose and treat all our groundwater problems. Without new leadership with the vision and compassion to recognize the magnitude of this problem, we will be left without a real solution to our ever-growing problem.

Joseph Ruggiero for County Executive
PO Box 294
Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
(845) 233-1199

Copyright 2007 Joe Ruggiero for Dutchess County Executive

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