PETERSBURGH, N.Y. -- Robert Gorghan has been waiting for answers about the PFOA contamination since the town of Petersburgh was first advised to stop drinking its water.

"It's not a slippery slope. We've already gone over the edge," said Gorghan, a Petersburgh resident. "If you allow any industrial waste into the water table, you're going to have problems."

Weeks ago, he finally received a letter from an EPA employee wishing to remain anonymous. That letter, sent from Taconic to the DEC and the Department of Health in 2005, had test results showing areas of its facility had traces of PFOA. Some levels were as high as 13,700,000 parts per trillion. Other areas tested were much lower.

"I called up the DEC and they didn't acknowledge this letter at all to me. After reading it, I'm really shocked," Gorghan said.

Taconic says it never heard back from the DEC or the Health Department after the letter was sent. A statement from a Taconic spokesman reads in part: "More than 10 years ago, Taconic conducted sampling that demonstrated the presence of PFOA in groundwater. Taconic sought to address the issue immediately by providing DEC, the New York State Department of Health and the Rensselaer County Department of Health with sampling results, installing carbon filtration on facility wells and providing bottled water to employees and company-owned residences."

Gorghan doesn't understand why more action wasn't taken by the DEC.

"I think this is just 'what can we cover up because we knew about it 11 years ago?' " said Gorghan.

The DEC says there was nothing regulatory to be done. In a statement, they said in part: "DEC was notified by Taconic Plastics regarding the PFOA groundwater issue in 2005, which at the time was not a regulated contaminant and the state could not take any regulatory action regarding this. DEC had no further communications about PFOA groundwater contamination with the company until Jan. 29 when the company alerted DEC about PFOA groundwater contamination."

"You say it's not a regulated substance and that's your excuse? So how many other unregulated substances are we going to have to suffer health effects from before the DEC gets moving?" Gorghan said.

It was not until February of this year that residents were told to stop drinking their water. Gorghan says the way the contamination has been handled is unacceptable. He's calling on the state for more transparency with the people of Petersburgh.

"I would actually like DEC to do its job," Gorghan said. "I would like to feel that I have the comfort of knowing that an agency that's supposed to be protecting our water is actually doing it. I don't think that's a lot to ask."

Gorghan is also pushing for blood testing to be offered to residents in Petersburgh.