This article is part of our series Life Under Threat, where we share the stories of families whose health has been put at risk by polluting industry, from chemical manufacturers to oil and gas operations to AI data centers.
The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the primary federal law meant to protect us from thousands of dangerous chemicals, is currently under attack in Congress. EPA administers TSCA, and some politicians, under the influence of chemical industry lobbyists, are trying to dismantle the agency’s responsibility to ensure chemicals are safe both before and after they enter the market, making it easier for things like PFAS, asbestos, and formaldehyde to get into our bodies, air, and water.
The cruelty of this effort is not lost on Emily Marpe, a self-described caregiver with three children and four grandchildren. Emily spent eight years of her life fighting tooth and nail to protect her family from forever chemicals emitted by a local plastics facility that contaminated town water and private wells across Petersburgh, New York. The story she shares with us below illustrates the absolute necessity of stronger protections from toxic chemicals.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals
As told to Julie Kimmel by Emily Marpe:
In February 2016, I received a letter from Rensselaer County, where Petersburgh is, asking to test the well on my property for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever chemicals.” I was contacted because the local chemical company, Taconic Plastics, had actually reported themselves to the health department after seeing a Times Union article about PFAS contamination in Hoosick Falls, New York, about 12 miles away. [The Hoosick Falls disaster and its significant repercussions are the subject of Mariah Blake’s 2025 book They Poisoned the World.] Taconic had had PFAS emissions issues in the past.
I started Googling and learned that PFAS chemicals are concerning because they don’t break down in the environment. That’s why they’re called “forever” chemicals. They will be in our bodies for a very, very long time. PFAS exposure has been linked to thyroid problems, cancer, liver damage, immune effects, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, and more.
Photo by Emily Marpe.
Shocking contamination levels
We got the results of our well test on a Saturday: 2,100 parts per trillion. To put that in perspective, the contaminated Hoosick Falls wells had tested around 400 or 500 parts per trillion. Our levels were four times that. I couldn’t believe it. County officials told us to stop drinking our water and brushing our teeth with it.
Of the 136 private wells that tested positive for PFAS in Petersburgh, only four tested above 2,000 parts per trillion, including mine. The four are basically in a line down the road heading away from the Taconic plant, so we assume it’s the way the aquifer underneath flows. As you get farther from the facility the contamination levels go down.
The PFAS chemicals were coming out of the smokestacks at Taconic. From there they fell into our water and soil and eventually contaminated the groundwater. It got into the environment in other ways too. They would clean the smokestack scrubbers right out in the parking lot, and the runoff flowed into the gutters. They would send leftover materials from the manufacturing processes to local farmers to spread on their fields as fertilizer. They would also bury their waste.
Next steps
The town of Petersburgh started offering bottled water for pickup weekly at Town Hall. We used this for drinking, cooking, brushing our teeth, bathing—everything.
I ran into the town supervisor at one of the Town Hall water pickups. I had just done an impromptu interview about the contamination with a news crew that happened to be there. The supervisor overheard and asked, “Do you want to cost 200 people their jobs?” And I said, “Do you want to kill my kids?” He lit a fire in me that I’ve never felt before in my life.
I fought for blood tests for my community and for water filtration for my children’s elementary school. Even though they had self-reported, Taconic didn’t want to pay for blood testing, soil sampling, or filtration systems. I brought a petition to the water distribution at Town Hall and got signatures; I went to countless community meetings, and I was on the news a lot. Eventually, Taconic agreed to all of it.
Health scares
When we finally got our blood tests, the results came in the mail. I opened my 13-year-old son’s first. He tested at 103 nanograms per liter. I knew that was high—very high. Anything over 2 ng/L could mean potential health issues related to contamination, and that risk increases at levels over 20 ng/L.
My 10-year-old daughter’s level was 207. Mine was 322. My boyfriend’s was 418—comparable with somebody who worked at a chemical plant. This was after four and a half years of exposure. I couldn’t believe these numbers.
Over the years we lived in Petersburgh, I had dry skin, severe fatigue, and headaches. I found out this was because my thyroid was out of whack. Thyroid problems run rampant in Petersburgh. My daughter has them too, and so do many of our old neighbors. Now we know that thyroid disease has been linked to PFAS exposure.
We’re also finding out about people getting cancer all the time now. Some of these cases I’ve heard about from Michael Hickey, who was instrumental in bringing to light the PFAS contamination in Hoosick Falls and who I ultimately credit with saving my family. My neighbor had colon cancer, Michael knew a teacher with cancer, our family doctor had a rare form of brain cancer, young friends of friends have testicular cancer.
Getting out of there
We moved from Petersburgh and to Hoosick Falls in 2017. People always ask why. I couldn’t stay in Petersburgh; I couldn’t be in that house under the smokestacks. The mental damage the whole situation did to me was profound. And not only that, but the water filtration system Taconic gave us had to be maintained and changed, so I would have been tied to the company for the rest of my life. I had to avoid that.
Surprisingly, the PFAS levels at my house in Petersburgh were substantially higher than those in the entire village of Hoosick Falls, which is home to two Saint-Gobain facilities with a history of polluting the local water supply. But thanks to the Times Union articles, Mariah Blake’s reporting, and advocacy efforts in Hoosick Falls, I knew the water there would be the safest possible. It would be tested and treated under watchful eyes for a long time. So that’s why we moved there.
The good news is we haven’t drunk PFAS in 10 years, and our blood levels have come down significantly. PFAS doesn’t break down, but our bodies can eliminate it eventually, over the course of years.
What we all really need
I wish we were protected from toxic chemicals like PFAS. We could save a lot of people just by proving chemicals are safe before they end up in our drinking water, air, food, clothing, hygiene products, cookware, toys, and building materials. If it builds up in bodies over time and is manufactured, it doesn’t belong in our environment.
For years, I fought for a stronger Toxic Substances Control Act, for better enforcement, for PFAS to be classified as a group of chemicals, not reviewed one type at a time. I went to Washington. I thought we were making progress, but now here we are going backward. It shouldn’t be that complicated. We should be making TSCA stronger, not weaker.
Tell Congress: Protect Our Families From Harmful Toxic Chemicals