Five years after losing his father to kidney cancer, Hoosick Falls resident Michael Hickey took his message about the dangers of PFOA contamination to Washington.

Hickey, who is largely credited with helping to expose PFOA contamination in the Hoosick Falls water supply, testified at a House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was focused on the Trump administration’s priorities and policy initiatives under the Clean Water Act.

Sharing his story with lawmakers, Hickey recalled having to order his own water testing kit five years ago because Hoosick Falls was considered too small under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) guidelines at the time.

Believed to cause certain cancers, thyroid conditions, and other autoimmune diseases, the chemical PFOA was used for many years at the local Saint Gobain plant.

Along with focusing on efforts to clean up contaminated water supplies, Hickey urged EPA leaders to place a greater emphasis on prevention.

"We need to talk about how to stop them from getting into the air, from getting into the ground," Hickey said. "Why are we not talking about the sources they are coming from? We are talking about pulling them out of the water after they get there, why are we not concentrating more on how did they get there?"

A member of the subcommittee, Hudson Valley Congressman Antonio Delgado, criticized the EPA for delaying to establish a maximum contaminant level for PFOA and PFOS. He called the agency's inaction "frustrating" and a "disservice to the public."