Brendan J. Lyons reports in Capitol Confidential blood samples from more than 2,000 Rensselaer County residents showed 11 times higher than the national average of a toxic chemical that has polluted water supplies in the county. The state health department took the samples in February in the eastern Rensselaer County towns of Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh where traces of the chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, have bee detected in water supplies at levels far above those recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The state Department of Environmental Conservation also announced June 3 it had reached consent orders with Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics and Honeywell International that will require them to pay for cleanup of several manufacturing sites in and around Hoosick Falls that may be sources of the contamination. Meanwhile, Republican Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin has written to U.S. Attorneys for the state’s Northern and Southern districts asking for an inquiry into the state’s handling of the Rensselaer County water crisis. Read the full story in Capitol Confidential.