At least one Vermont family is questioning why Gov. Peter Shumlin vetoed a bill that would have required all new residential wells to be tested for toxic elements.
Shumlin says he wanted to avoid a new mandate on Vermonters, and that most areas with high concentrations of dangerous elements are known.
But Laurel Coburn tells the Burlington Free Press her son Bjorn turned from a lively, bubbly 3-year-old to a listless, sometimes violently ill child. After months, his family pieced together what caused Bjorn to become ill: the water he was drinking at his grandparents’ Whiting home. That crisp, clear water contained arsenic.
Bjorn is 5 now and back healthy. But after all his family’s been through, they say they believe Vermont wells should be tested.