The scope of PFOA ground contamination from three manufacturing plants in Rensselaer County and southern Vermont is more "extensive" than initially anticipated, according to a new study.

Elevated levels of perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical used to make heat-resistant, nonstick products, were found in soil samples more than 10 miles east of the ChemFab facility in North Bennington, Vt., by a team of faculty and students at Bennington College.

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The elevated levels were repeatedly discovered in a 120-square-mile area east of the North Bennington facility, while a consent order with Vermont only identified 12 square miles. Plant owner Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has maintained emissions of PFOA were limited to surrounding neighborhoods only.

The study, which tried to gauge the breadth of the contamination, highlights the finding of elevated PFOA levels in soil downwind of the Saint-Gobain plants, including its Hoosick Falls site, but didn't find the same contamination levels in northern areas outside of dominant wind patterns.

"The pattern in soil seem fairly clear," said David Bond, a contributor to the study and professor at Bennington College. "They all point back to the Saint-Gobain plants in North Bennington and Hoosick Falls."

"Our research suggests Saint-Gobain has been insisting on a microscopic view of a wide angle problem. When you zoom out, you begin to see just how extensive PFOA contamination may actually be," he said.

In response to questions about airborne disbursement of PFOA, Saint-Gobain said in a statement its focus is limited to the Bennington and North Bennington areas and highlighted its work in the communities to address the presence of PFOA. The company said it had not reviewed the new study.

In 2014, PFOA contamination was found in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh water supplies. Both plant owners then entered into consent orders with the state, which require them to install new filtration systems.

While PFOA levels in the new soil samples are below the health guidance levels set by Vermont, researchers with Bennington College are worried about it leaking out and contaminating ground water. PFOA exposure has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, as well as thyroid diseases and other serious health problems.

The study was based on PFOA levels in the top 14 inches of soil collected by the Bennington College professors and students. This latest effort is part of a PFOA contamination review in New York and Vermont since 2016 funded by the National Science Foundation.

In coming months, researchers expect to expand the search area, including south and west of the Saint-Gobain plants.

"Saint-Gobain has been spending untold sums laying blame for PFOA contamination at the feet of local residents and glossing up domain names like www.benningtonwater.com and www.hoosickwater.com," Bond said. "Our research suggests that money might be better spent connecting impacted communities in New York and Vermont to clean, public drinking water."

New York's Department of Environmental Conservation is examining contamination from air deposition as part of remedial investigations in Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, location of the 23.5-acre Taconic Plastics facility.

"DEC will expand the air deposition investigation beyond the site boundaries to a regional scope as we continue to evaluate actions to address contamination in these communities," DEC spokesman Sean Mahar said.

At the Hoosick Falls site, in conjunction with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the DEC is conducting air emission sampling at the Hoosick Falls plant to assess potential for air emissions containing PFOA and similar chemicals.

Several people who worked at the Hoosick Falls plant had told the Times Union about seeing powder-like smoke plumes that often settled in the valley around the plant.

In the 1980s, the plant installed "scrubbers" in its smokestacks to prevent toxic pollutants from entering the air. Kevin Allard, a former Hoosick Falls village trustee who worked at the plant, told the Times Union in 2015 that scrubbers probably didn't prevent all the toxic pollutants from escaping.

"Before the scrubbers were put on there was a good 15 years of running full-out and all that material going up into the air, up out of the stacks and just floating down," Allard said. "It was heavier than air."

A lawsuit in Petersburgh alleged PFOA took a vapor form when heated during a manufacturing process at Taconic and was released through smoke stacks.

The DEC announced an environmental study in June at the Petersburgh facility to determine the extent of pollution and how to address it. The results of the study, being paid for by Taconic's corporate owner, is expected to be done by next year.

The study will "define the nature and extent of contamination in soil, surface water, groundwater and any other parts of the environment," DEC said in June.

While the federal government and other states have established advisory levels for PFOA in water supplies, there is no law in place establishing enforceable limits for these chemicals.

David.Lombardo(at)timesunion.com