Hold Saint-Gobain Accountable for Vermont's PFAS Contamination Emergency
Hold Saint-Gobain Accountable for Vermont's PFAS Contamination Emergency
The Issue
For nearly a quarter century, PFOA — a toxic "forever chemical" linked to kidney cancer — has been seeping from the former ChemFab factory site in Bennington, Vermont into the groundwater that local families drink. The factory was bought by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation, a French multinational, before it closed in 2002. Today, the contamination is not only still there — it is spreading.
New research by Bennington College professors in partnership with Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation found that three quarters of private wells tested between 2016 and 2024 showed increased PFAS levels. Wells in southern Bennington and southeast Shaftsbury now contain PFOA at up to 60 parts per trillion — 15 times Vermont's allowable limit of 4 parts per trillion.
"PFAS is a generational disaster, and we're only now starting to figure out what it means to respond to an environmental crisis of this scale and this durability," said David Bond, a Bennington College professor and lead researcher on the project.
Saint-Gobain reached a settlement with Vermont in 2019 to help fund clean water connections for affected Bennington households. But contamination has since spread into new communities — and the state's current negotiations with Saint-Gobain over the newly affected areas are being conducted entirely in secret, with no transparency for the people whose wells are poisoned.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers PFOA a probable human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) goes further, classifying it as a confirmed human carcinogen with strong links to kidney cancer. Vermont families living near Saint-Gobain's former factory deserve to know what is being negotiated on their behalf.
We are calling on Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark to make the current settlement negotiations with Saint-Gobain public, demand expanded remediation covering all newly contaminated areas, and pursue full corporate accountability for this ongoing public health crisis.
Sign to demand Saint-Gobain be held fully accountable for Vermont's PFAS disaster.
109
The Issue
For nearly a quarter century, PFOA — a toxic "forever chemical" linked to kidney cancer — has been seeping from the former ChemFab factory site in Bennington, Vermont into the groundwater that local families drink. The factory was bought by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation, a French multinational, before it closed in 2002. Today, the contamination is not only still there — it is spreading.
New research by Bennington College professors in partnership with Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation found that three quarters of private wells tested between 2016 and 2024 showed increased PFAS levels. Wells in southern Bennington and southeast Shaftsbury now contain PFOA at up to 60 parts per trillion — 15 times Vermont's allowable limit of 4 parts per trillion.
"PFAS is a generational disaster, and we're only now starting to figure out what it means to respond to an environmental crisis of this scale and this durability," said David Bond, a Bennington College professor and lead researcher on the project.
Saint-Gobain reached a settlement with Vermont in 2019 to help fund clean water connections for affected Bennington households. But contamination has since spread into new communities — and the state's current negotiations with Saint-Gobain over the newly affected areas are being conducted entirely in secret, with no transparency for the people whose wells are poisoned.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers PFOA a probable human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) goes further, classifying it as a confirmed human carcinogen with strong links to kidney cancer. Vermont families living near Saint-Gobain's former factory deserve to know what is being negotiated on their behalf.
We are calling on Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark to make the current settlement negotiations with Saint-Gobain public, demand expanded remediation covering all newly contaminated areas, and pursue full corporate accountability for this ongoing public health crisis.
Sign to demand Saint-Gobain be held fully accountable for Vermont's PFAS disaster.
109
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on May 19, 2026