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Mid Hudson Times , Wednesday , November 22 , 2017

PUBLIC AGENDA

MONDAY , NOVEMBER 27

Newburgh City Council meeting . 7 p . m . City Hall , 83 Broadway . Town of Newburgh Workshop meeting , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 1496 Route 300 , Town of Newburgh .

TUESDAY , NOVEMBER 28

Newburgh Enlarged City School District Board of Education , 6 p . m . Board of Education Library Complex , 124 Grand Street , Newburgh

MONDAY , DECEMBER 4

New Windsor Town Board work session , 7 p . m . Town Hall , 555 Union Ave ., New Windsor .

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

The office of the Mid Hudson Times will be closed Thursday , Nov . 23 and Friday , Nov . 24 in observance of Thanksgiving

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The Mid Hudson Times ( USPS 000-5947 ) is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 , with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . Single copy : $ 1 at newsstand . By mail in Orange , Ulster or Sullivan Counties : $ 40 annually , $ 44 out of county . Periodicals permit at Newburgh , N . Y . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Mid Hudson Times , 300 Stony Brook Court , Newburgh , N . Y . 12550 .

Resentative Sean Patrick , Maloney ( NY-18 ) [ L ] joins U . S . Senator Chuck Schumer as he gives a speech at Washington Lake in New Windsor this past Monday , where he urged the Air Force to make Stewart Air Force Base their top cleanup priority .

By JASPREET GILL jgill @ tcnewspapers . com

“ Like my mother always said - you make a mess , you clean it up ,” said U . S . Senator Chuck Schumer this past Monday in New Windsor . “ Well , we ’ re saying that to the Air Force . They made a mess , they should clean it up . Residents have waited long enough for the Air Force to get their act together .”

Schumer was joined by Representative Sean Patrick-Maloney ( NY-18 ) at Washington Lake for a brief press conference Monday afternoon to urge the Air Force to make Stewart Air Force Base their top cleanup priority .

“ Step number one was increasing the funding to energize the Air Force to clean up the PFOS and PFOA contamination like that here at [ Stewart Air National guard Base ],” said Schumer .” But now we need [ President Trump ] to sign the bill into law . We believe we will do that but we ’ re urging to make sure . The second and most important step is we need the Air Force to designate Stewart as the top cleanup site in all of the United States .”

Last Week , Schumer , Maloney and Senator Kristen Gillibrand announced that the National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) included a key amendment to help the Air Force repair places like the Stewart Air National Guard Base affected by perfluoroctane sulfonic acid ( PFOS ) and perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ). The amendment authorizes $ 323 million in federal funding for the U . S . Air Force ’ s Environmental Restoration fund to clean up former waste disposal sites on military property .

“ The residents of Newburgh , Orange County have seen so much foot dragging and finger pointing since the contamination was uncovered ,” said Schumer . “ It ’ s time for the Air Force to make up for its past mistakes and put us number one . If they did , this budget will be finished by December 31 and they can start allocating money early next year .”

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has identified the Stewart Air National Guard Base as a source of PFOS contamination detected in Newburgh drinking water . PFOS is a toxic chemical often found in the manufacturing of products like stain repellants and fabric protectors that was banned in the United States in March of 2014 . PFOA is another manmade chemical that is used in the process of making Teflon , the non stick coating found on a range of products .

“ I ’ m absolutely delighted that the bill on the president ’ s desk right now is going to enforce the old rule of ‘ you break it you buy it ’,” said Maloney . “ The Air Force and the Department of Defense broke this water system and this bill is going to make them pay to clean it up , as it should be . The residents of Newburgh and the citizens of Orange County did not create this mess and should not bear the cost of cleaning it up .”