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Health officials urge continuation of PCB school testing as senators weigh H542 and funding options
Summary
Health and education officials told the Senate Education Committee that Vermont'led PCB testing in schools should continue and be paired with facilities planning, warning H542 could leave many districts to shoulder costs and worsen inequities. Committee members discussed extending testing deadlines and targeting limited funds to highest'risk schools.
State health and education officials told the Senate Education Committee on April 1 that Vermont's program to test and address polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in school buildings should continue, even as legislators weigh House bill H542, which officials said could shift costs to local districts and halt state-coordinated testing.
"I'm Julia R. I am a deputy commissioner at the health department," said Julia R., who described PCBs as persistent, bioaccumulative chemicals linked to cancer, immune-system and neurological harms and reproductive effects. Health department staff explained that Vermont established school action levels by age: 30 nanograms per cubic meter for the youngest students, 60 for kindergarten'through'6th grade and 100 for older students, lower than some EPA guidance because of Vermont-specific usage patterns and longer building occupancy.
The department said its testing program grew out of a 2019'2020 discovery at Burlington High School and now focuses on schools built or renovated before 1980. Officials said they identified 328 such schools; 157 have been tested to…
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