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Fears that Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan planned to buy his way into controlling Nashua’s water supply are giving way to tentative relief, with officials keeping a wary eye on a deal.

The good news, says Pennichuck Water, is that the potential deal with Zhong’s Nongfu Spring could ultimately lower residential water bills.

But state and local officials are less than thrilled that the international customer is based in China, which has an adversarial relationship with the U.S., and where companies are under the thumb of the Communist regime.

In February, Nongfu Spring secretly bought a $67 million industrial property in Nashua close to the Pennichuck Pond watershed, sparking concern about the future of Pennichuck Water, the utility owned by the City of Nashua. But C. George Bower, chairman of Pennichuck’s board of directors, told NHJournal there is no plan to sell Zhong anything but water.

“There is zero plan to sell the company, there is zero plan to sell any land. We have no land to sell,” Bower said.

Zhong’s close ties to the authoritarian Chinese Communist government, his company’s less-than-stellar environmental record, and the secrecy surrounding the Nashua plant generated alarm throughout the state. The company declined to respond to questions from NH Journal about the unusual property purchase or its plans in Nashua.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte told NHJournal that she would be watching the deal to make sure Nongfu remains a Pennichuck customer and not a Pennichuck owner.

“It’s critical that we safeguard New Hampshire from foreign adversaries like China. We need to ensure we aren’t allowing any national security threat to take root in our state,” Ayotte said.

According to Forbes, Zhong is worth $58 billion, making him the wealthiest man in China. In addition to owning Nongfu Spring, China’s biggest maker of bottled water, he also controls Wantai Biological, which makes rapid diagnostic tests for infectious diseases, including COVID-19.

Nongfu and Pennichuck are in the preliminary stages of deal negotiations, Bower said, but just for water. Zhong wants up to two million gallons a day for his planned beverage plant at his new 80 Northwest Blvd. property. That’s good news for Pennichuck, its owners, and its customers, Bower said. 

Pennichuck has the capacity to produce up to 35 million gallons per day, Bower said, more than enough to accommodate Nongfu’s planned operations. Any costs associated with hooking Nongfu up to Pennichuck’s water system, like adding new water lines, would be borne by the company.

A large-scale, industrial customer like Nongfu would lock into a contract that guarantees a set amount of water per month for the customer. Bower said such deals also require the customer to pay for all the water, whether they use it or not, giving Pennichuck a consistent, new revenue source.

It gets better for Pennichuck. As part of its conservation efforts, Pennichuck charges commercial and industrial customers on a rising scale, meaning the more water they buy, the higher the rate goes. Adding Nongfu as a customer could help drive down costs for Pennichuck and everyone in the Pennichuck system.

“We have fixed costs and variable costs, and a contract like this brings in an ongoing revenue stream that could help us control rates,” Bower said.

That means Pennichuck’s thousands of residential water customers throughout southern New Hampshire could end up paying less for their drinking water, Bower said.

Adding Nongfu to the system is the same as adding any other commercial or industrial customer, Bower insisted. Pennichuck already supplies water for the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Merrimack, which Belgian beverage conglomerate InBev owns.

Granite Staters concerned by a Chinese billionaire buying a large facility near Nashua’s water supply say the issue isn’t xenophobia. Many international businesses are active in New Hampshire. Instead, it’s the specific threat posed by China.

“Water is one of our most vital resources – to have a business, backed by the CCP, accessing water in our backyard is alarming,” said former state Rep. Randy Whitehead. “City officials and the Pennichuck Corporation need to come clean and provide some answers about this deal.”

Sen. Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead) has proposed legislation to stop Chinese companies from owning land near sensitive military sites in the state.

“Whether it’s flying spy balloons across our country or scooping up critical plots of U.S. real estate, China has stepped up its efforts to spy on our country,” Birdsell said when she proposed the legislation. “Other hostile nations, such as Russia, Iran, Syria, and North Korea, could try the same surveillance tactics unless we do something to stop them. Totalitarian nations do not see any difference between one of their citizens’ companies and the government itself.”

The prospect that Pennichuck could be bought by a foreign individual or entity is alarming, and the reason that the City of Nashua now owns the utility. 

“When the city bought Pennichuck, it really did to secure the water supply,” Bower said.

Nashua waged a decade-long battle to buy Pennichuck, closing the $200 million deal in 2012. The city took action after watching the old owners of Pennichuck risk the future security of the region’s water supply. The former owners sold off wetlands to commercial developers and were even considering a purchase offer from a French company when Nashua stepped in. Today, Pennichuck continues to operate as a for-profit utility corporation, but it reports to a single shareholder, the City of Nashua. 

China’s largest beverage company, Nongfu Spring, is setting up operations in Nashua after spending $67 million on an industrial building.

But the property’s location, adjacent to the Pennichuck watershed area that supplies drinking water for the city, raises questions about where Nongfu will get its H2O.

Pennichuck Pond

Recent developments have sparked public concern about the potential sale of Nashua’s water resources to a foreign entity. A significant real estate transaction and subsequent hiring activities have brought those issues to the forefront, prompting questions about the future of the city’s water supply.

According to online records, in February 2025, STAG Industrial sold a 337,391-square-foot industrial property at 80 Northwest Boulevard in Nashua for a staggering $67 million, despite online assessments valuing the property at approximately $15 million. The buyer was not officially disclosed, leading to speculation about foreign involvement. However, recent job postings on LinkedIn indicate that Nongfu Spring, a major Chinese bottled water company, is actively hiring for positions at that location.

Nongfu sells bottled water, tea, juices, and other drinks. It was one of the first private beverage companies to emerge in China in the 1990s and helped make its owner, Zhong Shanshan, the richest man in China with a net worth of around $65 billion. 

Zhong and Nongfu came under fire last year in China when nationalist activists there deemed the billionaire was not patriotic enough. It’s not clear how much the boycott was the work of so-called nationalists or part of a pressure campaign brought by the authoritarian government against Zhong. However, it’s well known that China’s Communist Party (CCP) exerts a strong influence over businesses operating within the country, both domestically and foreign. 

That’s one reason state Senate Majority Leader Regina Birdsell (R-Hampstead) has proposed legislation to prevent agents of the Chinese government from buying and owning land near sensitive military locations in the state.

The concern in the Gate City isn’t war fighters, but water.

Across the road from Nongfu’s new beverage plant is the Pennichuck Pond, one of many ponds in the Pennichuck water system that serves as Nashua’s main water source. 

Nashua’s water supply is managed by the Pennichuck Corporation, a semi-private water company controlled by the city. Nashua purchased Pennichuck in 2012 in a unique $200 million deal that left the corporate structure in place but positioned the city as the sole shareholder. 

The deal took 10 years and multiple trips to court to go through. The push to buy Pennichuck started in the early 2000s when it was learned that a French company planned to buy a controlling interest in the water supplier. City leaders acted to keep local control of the water. 

But prior to the possible foreign owner controversy, city leaders were unhappy with Pennichuck’s management, which had been selling off hundreds of acres of land to developers. The purchase was also a way for Nashua to keep Pennichuck’s land for water use, and not for building.

The upcoming Pennichuck Board of Directors meeting on May 21, 2025, has locals wondering if they will discuss and vote on any measures related to Pennichuck Pond, the water supply, and any deals related to these recent transactions. Current Board Chair C. George Bower did not respond to a request for comment about the upcoming meeting.

Pennichuck is based in Nashua and supplies water to communities throughout southern New Hampshire. Pennichuck serves approximately 40,000 customers using water from the Pennichuck watershed and the Merrimack River. It generates more than $50 million a year in revenue against $40 to $45 million in expenses.

The Federal Aviation Administration is stepping into the long-standing battle at Pease International Tradeport over the proposed Million Air project.

Pease officials have been put on notice by the FAA over the Million Air plan to build a new fixed base operator facility (FBO). The agency is reviewing the plan and the impacts it will have on the airport’s layout and requiring Pease to have a new environmental impact study done to FAA standards.

Meghann Wayss, a Newington resident who is part of the local opposition to Million Air’s project, hopes this FAA review will finally slow the approval for the project, which Wayss and others say poses serious risks to Seacoast drinking water.

“I’m really hopeful all of this will come to a close,” Wayss said.

Peter Bragdon, spokesman for the Texas-based Million Air, declined to comment on the FAA’s review, saying it is a matter for the Pease Development Board.

Million Air wants to build a new fixed-based operator (FBO) facility at Pease to service private aircraft. The proposal includes building a 90,000 fuel storage system. The project’s construction is also close to wetlands that feed into local drinking water sources. Building the facility would involve disturbing those wetlands. 

According to a letter from the FAA to Pease officials, Million Air’s FBO represents a change to the Pease airport layout plan, or ALP, on file with the FAA. Any change to the ALP requires FAA approval under federal rules. That means Million Air’s project is now in the hands of federal officials.

According to FAA Project Manager Sean Tiney, the final approval all comes down to the environmental impact.

“The FAA’s ALP approval authority for the proposed project, and any other federal approvals associated with the project … is a federal action subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),” Tiney wrote. “Therefore, (Pease) will be required to perform an appropriate environmental review consistent with NEPA.”

Million Air’s plans seemed inevitable for months despite vocal opposition from many residents and local leaders. However, the company backed off a bit when the PDA was set to give final approval this summer. 

In June, environmental impacts on the wetlands forced the company and the board to put off the approval until at least December. According to a memo from Michael Mates, the PDA’s director of engineering, Million Air needs more time to complete a review of the Gosling Station Wells, which includes water that flows into the Haven Well. 

The Gosling Wells were taken offline in the 1950s when Pease was built as an Air Force base. The military’s use of products containing PFAS resulted in contamination that has haunted residents on the Seacoast. PFAS — also known as “forever chemicals” –have a decades-long half-life and are linked to serious illness and certain cancers. 

Now, with the FAA oversight, Wayss can see a future at Pease without Million Air. 

“I don’t feel like they would be someone who has true interest and concern for the health and well-being of the community here,” Wayss said. “We want companies who care and are doing their best to be upfront and involved in the community.”

Nothing has been decided yet, and Wayss wants to bring more residents into the coalition opposed to Million Air’s project. The concern has always been for the drinking water, she said.

“This site should be off-limits. Drinking water is our greatest resource,” Wayss said.

Bragdon and other Million Air officials have consistently deflected the criticism and blamed the opposition on potential rival Port City Air. It operates an existing FBO at Pease and has been upfront in its opposition to Million Air on environmental grounds.

Port City is currently fighting in court over state approvals for Million Air. Port City was part of the appeal to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Council over state approval for Million Air’s wetlands permit. However, DES threw out Port City’s appeal on the argument the company does not qualify as an abutter under the law. 

Port City is now taking the case to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, saying DES’s order is unconstitutional.

Million Air isn’t cleared for landing at Pease International Tradeport just yet.

Under pressure from communities worried about the environmental impact of the proposed Million Air fixed-base operator facility, the Pease Development Authority board voted last week to delay the project by six months.

The vote moves the PDA’s deadline for a final decision on Million Air’s controversial construction project from the end of this month to the end of December. That gives time for another engineering review paid for by Million Air to study the potential impacts on wells adjacent to the proposed site.

Earlier this month, Newington selectmen raised the alarm among residents, asking people to contact state leaders about Million Air’s project. One of the wells that the construction could impact is the Haven Well, a significant source of drinking water for Newington.

Meghann Wayss, a Newington resident whose family has been on the Seacoast since the 1700s, told NHJournal she and others have been frustrated by the seeming lack of interest the PDA has taken in protecting her town’s drinking water and the health of its residents.

“I’m disheartened that it’s harder to build a home in the private sector than it is for the PDA to rubber stamp an FBO through an area that is incredibly delicate and so important to our local water supply,” Wayss said.

The board did not discuss the change Thursday, though PDA member Margret Lamson questioned if there needs to be special care taken for the wells.

“Not the whole town of Newington is on the Haven Well,” Lamson said. “There are those that are saying the whole town is on the Haven Well, but the whole town is not.”

According to a memo from Michael Mates, the PDA’s director of engineering, Million Air needs more time to complete a review of the Gosling Station Wells, which includes water that flows into the Haven Well. 

The Gosling Wells were taken offline in the 1950s when Pease was built as an Air Force base. Some of the highest concentrations of PFAS chemicals in the country have been found at and around military bases, “in large part because of the military’s longtime reliance on the firefighting foam AFFF — PFAS are active ingredients,” according to Military Times.

The PFAS contamination has haunted residents on the Seacoast for years. PFAS is a chemical with a decades-long half-life and has been linked to serious illness and certain cancers. 

Peter Bragdon, a spokesman for Texas-based Million Air, said the company is more than willing to see the well review be completed before moving on to the final approval.

“Million Air supports the extension of deadlines for our FBO project at Pease. In the two and a half years since this project was first proposed, the Pease Development Authority has consistently followed a deliberate and thorough approach to make sure its board has the facts needed to make an informed decision. This is another example of the PDA exercising its independent oversight,” Bragdon said. “Million Air looks forward to our formal presentation to the PDA Board of Directors in the coming months.”

Newington residents are asking for help protecting their town’s drinking water from potential contamination some fear could be caused by the Million Air construction project at Pease.

“Everyone is extremely concerned,” said resident Meghann Wayss. “They have a little bit of trauma because they’ve seen this steamroll process.”

Wayss is one of the hundreds of Seacoast residents imploring the Pease Development Authority to listen to their concerns about Million Air and the Texas-based company’s plan to build a new private plane facility at Pease. So far, she told NHJournal, it seems like they are being ignored.

“Due process is not taking place,” Wayss said.

Newington’s Selectboard recently published an open letter detailing the perceived problems with Million Air’s proposed facility. The letter also asks residents to get involved in protecting the town.

Selectboard Chair Bob Blonigen said Newington is running out of options as the PDA gets closer to approving Million Air’s new fixed-base operator facility, which includes plans for a 90,000-gallon jet fuel farm many say is too close to wetlands that feed the region’s drinking water systems.

Residents don’t want the PDA to rubber stamp the project with what they say are unanswered questions remaining regarding the safety of town drinking water.

“There’s a groundswell of concern in Newington that the PDA is not responding to our questions; they are not really giving the project a proper look,” Blonigen said.

More than 1,200 residents have signed an online petition asking the PDA to slow down.

Million Air wants to build its fixed-base operator facility on land that will require dredging and filling of wetlands near the Haven Well, according to the Newington board’s letter. The Haven Well feeds into the drinking water for the town of Newington. Residents already living with PFAS contamination from Pease fear Million Air’s project poses a risk of worsening the problem. They cite a review of the project conducted by Danna Truslow, a hydrogeologist hired to look at the site by Port City Air, an aviation company already at Pease.

Truslow found levels of PFAS within Million Air’s proposed site already 10 times the PFAS levels considered safe. None of this seems to make an impression on the PDA, Wayss said.

Resident Jennifer Wiener said while the PDA meetings about Million Air are taking place in public, they are held at times most members of the public cannot attend. The meetings are in the middle of the workday on weekdays. She said that even if a resident can get to a meeting, they are shut out from commenting or asking questions.

“We feel there’s no transparency to this project,” Wiener said. 

Wayss recalled arriving late to a recent meeting set for 2 p.m., only to find it was already over. Wayss entered the room at 2:09 p.m. to find the board adjourning the meeting.

“It’s very apparent there is a desired result, and the process is being used to get that desired result,” Wayss said.

State Rep. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) said he and other Seacoast lawmakers have been hearing volumes from residents who are worried about the project. He said the concerns being raised by Newington selectmen and residents ought to be addressed openly.

“All of the concerns the selectmen have raised are more than legitimate,” Meuse said. “These are questions that need to be answered.

Meuse met this week with state Sen. Rebecca Perkins Kwoka (D-Portsmouth) and state Rep. Robin Vogt (D-Portsmouth) to discuss the situation. He said lawmakers want to get all the facts and fully understand the issues before taking the next step. The biggest concern is making sure Seacoast residents don’t again have their drinking water contaminated, he explained.

“We need to do the homework and have the right kind of conversations with people and advocate for people in the community,” Meuse said. “We want to make sure people who have been victimized before won’t get victimized again.”

Residents like Wayss and Weiner want the PDA to conduct a public, third-party peer review of the design of the project, review alternative sites at Pease where Million Air’s facility could be safely located, bring in a professional wetlands engineer to study the current’s site buffer zone; and offer a complete public explanation of what the public benefit is being realized through the Million Air project. 

“We still do not understand how this is a public good when it’s ruining Newington’s drinking water,” Weiner said.

Pease International Tradeport sits on land taken from the town of Newington decades ago when the U.S. government created the Pease Air Force Base, she noted. Since that land went to the Tradeport when the base closed, she said the PDA at least owes residents an explanation.

“We gave away 51 percent of our town when the airbase came in,” Weiner said. “I would expect the PDA to be better partners.”

Supporters of the Million Air project note the Truslow review was funded by Port City Air, a competitor who has no interest in seeing the project move forward.

Peter Bragdon, spokesman for Million Air, said Newington officials and residents have no reason to worry. The wetlands delineation surrounding the proposed facility has been through an independent, third-party review ordered by the PDA already. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has also looked at it. He said the company has agreed to abide by any findings these reviews uncovered.

“Million Air believes the PDA and NH DES are exercising proper independent oversight in this process by ordering an independent third-party review and by having a team of experts, including a certified wetland scientist, walk the property,” Bragdon said. “We look forward to the formal presentation of our proposal to the PDA Board of Directors in the coming months, where the facts can be discussed openly.”

Million Air’s proposed flight facility at Pease International Tradeport is getting closer to a vote by the Pease Development Board. But the project faces objections from some Seacoast residents, and new allegations the board is engaged in a potential conflict of interest.

At issue is Million Air’s use of the engineering firm Hoyle Tanner & Associates to create the plan presented to the board. Residents say this presents a conflict since the PDA has used this firm for environmental reviews on other projects. The PDA brought in a different firm, GM2 Associates, to review the wetlands impact of the Million Air project.

The potential conflict was pointed out in a letter from opponents of the new facility. “This is a frustrating and questionable conflict of interest. How can the PDA allow this to happen?” they wrote.

The Pease Development Board has until next month to take action on Million Air’s application for its fixed-base operator (FBO) facility, after granting the company an extension. It is the location of that FBO, close to critical wetlands, that has residents alarmed. They say they are already dealing with PFAS-contaminated water and they can’t afford the potential risk from the new project.

The proposed FBO includes a new hangar and a fuel farm that can hold close to 90,000 gallons of jet fuel. Residents say the board is rushing the project, and they want the PDA to hire an independent environmental firm to review the project and proposed location.

“The PDA’s concern for water quality and preserving the environment around Pease is certainly not evident from the proceedings in the matter thus far. The PDA has NOT earned our trust,” wrote the group of concerned residents, including Dania Seiglie, Dudley Dudley, Pete Carey, Mary-Jo Monusky, and Jane Man.

Former PDA executive director George Bald and local wealth manager Tom Sedoric have endorsed the project, recently penning an op-ed blaming the opposition on rival FBO Port City Air, which is currently operating at Pease.

“The ‘rest of the story’ is that Port City Air (PCA) wishes to retain its lucrative monopoly at Pease. PCA is cloaking itself as the environmental protector of the public interest. PCA is no protector and is simply opportunistically seeking to retain its monopoly at Pease,” Bald and Sedoric wrote.

However, the opposition of close to 1,000 residents, led by Seiglie, has consistently warned that Million Air poses a risk to the health and safety of residents. Pease Airport is already listed as a Superfund site by the EPA because of the PFAS contamination. Seiglie says the concerns of the residents have been ignored.

“Despite our continued questions, we have received a deafening silence. We get the same message back: trust us, this is a good plan. Worse, some argue that our concerns aren’t worthy of a response because this debate isn’t about the environment,” the opposition letter states.

Peter Bragdon, the New Hampshire spokesman for Million Air, said the proposed FBO will feature state-of-the-art protections and that it will be smaller than Port City Air’s fuel and fluid system currently in use at Pease.

“(It) will include double-walled storage tanks and piping, retention berms, oil stop valves, oversized containment chambers, and oil-water separators, backed up with failsafe alarms, control valves, and high-level gauging instrumentation,” Bragdon said. “It will be far more environmentally safer than Port City Air’s two existing fuel farms, one of which abuts Million Air’s proposed fuel facility, which together store and distribute more than 300,000 gallons of fuel and deicing fluids at Pease.”

Opponents aren’t taking Million Air at its word. They want the PDA to either hire a new firm to conduct a full environmental site plan review, or simply move Million Air’s project to a different location at Pease, one further away from the wetlands.

“We hope the PDA Board will look at this matter objectively and account for the health, safety, and community well-being of those who live and work in and around Pease,” they wrote.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story reported the PDA used Hoyle Tanner & Associates to review the proposal the engineering firm wrote for Million Air. That was incorrect. NHJournal regrets the error.

Residents opposed to the construction of a new airplane operating facility at Pease International Tradeport say their concerns about the environmental impacts are going unheard. But the facilities executive director is not backing down from his support for the controversial project.

“The narrative that is out in the community that potentially this is being rubber-stamped or rushed is the farthest thing from the truth,” Pease Development Authority (PDA) executive director Paul Brean told the Portsmouth Herald. “Obviously people hear wetlands, people hear this (jet fuel) could get into the wetlands, it’s simply not the case,” Brean said. “There are safeguards in place that we will carefully handle this product and we have faith in the design plans.”

But while Brean may have faith in Million Air and its plan, many in the community do not.

“This is more than unfair; this is irresponsible to move forward on a plan that hasn’t even answered some of the basic questions about environmental impact,” Newington resident Meghann Wayss said. “I don’t understand why they would ignore the questions and concerns.”

As NHJournal has previously reported, eight Granite State lawmakers wrote a letter to the PDA  voicing their concerns about the project. “Government studies confirm these wetlands already contain PFAS contamination,” wrote state Sen. Deborah Altschiller (D-Stratham). “Building on and next to these wetlands risks putting contaminants back into circulation.”

And the Houston, Texas-based company is also currently facing resistance to a proposed facility at the Westchester Airport in White Plains, N.Y.

But despite a steady stream of complaints from the Portsmouth community, the Million Air project appears to be gaining altitude, thanks in part to Brean’s outspoken support. And last week the Pease Development Board’s Technical Review Committee unanimously approved plans for its proposed fixed-base operator facility, which would include a new hangar as well as a fuel farm that would hold close to 90,000 gallons of jet fuel.

The potential for a jet fuel or plane deicer leak into the nearby wetlands has residents already dealing with PFAS contamination worried the project is moving too fast.

Company spokesman Peter Bragdon said Million Air is listening to residents who are worried about the project.

“In the two-plus years since Million Air’s project was first proposed, it has been formally discussed at 10 public meetings of the PDA Board, the Department of Environmental Services, and the TRC, with public comments presented at most of these meetings,” Bragdon said. “Million Air factored in all comments from the public, as well as those from committee members, into their revised plans and was pleased to receive a 7-0 approval vote from the TRC.”

If Million Air is listening, as Bragdon suggested, company executives know nearly one thousand residents have signed a letter asking the project to move to a location away from the wetlands. So far, the company has not indicated it plans to change its location.

Seacoast area residents have been dealing with PFAS contamination in their drinking water as a result of decades of air operations at Pease, which was once a United States Air Force base. The prospect of a Million Air setting up its FBO close to the wetlands that feed into that same drinking water has many on edge.

“People are still paying the price for PFAS contamination,” said state Rep. Jackie Pitts (D-Portsmouth). “You must take this into consideration. Mistakes of the past are about to be made again.”

Bragdon said Million Air’s FBO will feature state-of-the-art protections, and that it will be smaller than Port City Air’s fuel and fluid system currently in use at Pease.

“(It) will include double-walled storage tanks and piping, retention berms, oil stop valves, oversized containment chambers, and oil-water separators, backed up with failsafe alarms, control valves, and high-level gauging instrumentation,” Bragdon said. “It will be far more environmentally safer than Port City Air’s two existing fuel farms, one of which abuts Million Air’s proposed fuel facility, which together stores and distribute more than 300,000 gallons of fuel and deicing fluids at Pease.”

Brean echoed Million Air’s position to the Herald saying, “It’s going to be one of the most state-of-the-art fuel farms in the region, if not in the country. Our design for this goes above and beyond any of our local and federal regulations.”

But for residents like Dania Seiglie, the approval process is ignoring issues like the potential loss of vital wetlands areas because of Million Air’s construction, or the lack of soil sampling being done at the site.

“I’m furious that none of these environmental concerns, not one of them, was considered by this Pease Technical Review Committee,” local activist Dania Seiglie said.

Bragdon would not answer directly when asked if the company plans to meet with residents about the project in order to address their concerns. Seiglie said Million Air’s FBO proposal has been rushed through the review and planning process over the wishes of the resident who will have to bear the burden if there is any environmental fallout.

“I’d like to know why this vote was rushed when they had three more months to review the details and get answers that were being respectfully and consistently asked by the public. I have been asking these questions for months and I still don’t have any answers,” Seiglie said.

As Houston-based private air operator Million Air moves closer to winning approval for its new facility at Pease International Tradeport, the company’s dispute with officials in Westchester, N.Y. is heating up. The company says it is just how business works, but critics say the experience is a preview of coming attractions for the Seacoast facility.

The Westchester Airport Advisory Committee is expected to approve a letter detailing the county’s problems with Million Air and urging county officials to continue the legal battle against the operator.

“Million Air has not proven itself to be a good neighbor, and it should not be given the benefit of the doubt,” said Peter Schlactus with the Coalition to Stop Westchester Airport Expansion.

Million Air is currently suing Westchester County, claiming the county violated its lease agreement when it tried to stop the air operator’s expansion at the Westchester Airport.

Schlactus, however, said the company is not pursuing its expansion in good faith and violated the original agreement with the airport.

“Million Air is relying on what it claims is a verbal understanding with the prior administration,” Schlactus said. “(What they are doing is) nowhere to be found in the agreements they actually signed. Million Air is trying to stretch the sense of what an agreement is.”

The Westchester Airport is the third busiest airport in New York state after LaGuardia and JFK, Schlactus said. Most of the traffic, however, comes from smaller private planes that use the airport. Million Air is ignoring those customers, Schlactus said and focusing on private corporate jets.

The company is building a new 80,000-square-foot hangar and facility to service private jets in Westchester. But according to Schlactus that was not the original agreement. Westchester County officials approved Million Air’s plans to renovate its facility to service light general aviation, typically smaller private planes.

“They never followed through with the promises made to the county,” he said.

Instead, according to Schlactus and the court documents filed by the county, Million Air violated the agreement by tearing down its facility to build the new, larger jet hangar.

“They say they are improving and modifying their facilities, when in fact it’s completely tearing down a building and putting up a new building,” Schlactus said. “They are playing games with terminology, and they failed to get the appropriate environmental approvals at federal levels.”

Part of the new construction Million Air is undertaking at Westchester is a new stormwater system that had not been approved by the county, according to court documents. Schlactus said the company has also failed to get the stormwater system approved.

The Westchester Airport in White Plains, N.Y. sits close to the Kensico Reservoir which supplies drinking water to millions of people in New York City and the metropolitan region. Schlactus said there are obvious concerns about potential runoff from the airport going into drinking water, and the lack of appropriate approvals for Million Air’s stormwater system is a red flag.

“That does not speak well to their environmental stewardship,” he said.

Like the situation surrounding Pease, Westchester residents have dealt with PFAS chemicals contaminating the drinking water supply. Schlactus is concerned that Million Air’s actions could lead to new contamination.

“To have stormwater standards near the reservoir ignored is truly alarming,” said Schlactus.

Schlactus said that instead of listening to the concerns of people in Westchester County, the company responded by filing the lawsuit, while at the same time moving to silence critics.

“They cast doubt on the distress people are feeling and expressing,” he said. “They’ve been very aggressive in promoting a ‘more is better, bigger is better’ message.”

Million Air’s 26,000 square-foot proposal at Pease includes a new 12,000 square-foot hangar and a 90,000-gallon fuel farm. It is the fuel farm proposal that has Seacoast residents concerned. The fuel tanks that make up Million Air’s proposed fuel farm at Pease would be about 100 feet away from wetlands. Million Air COO Chuck Suma said residents’ concerns about the fuel farm are misplaced.

“We know how to manage a fuel farm and we know how to do this in an environmentally friendly way,” Suma said in October. “I would never allow or sanction or run my facilities in such a way that would negatively impact the area around it.”

Dania Seiglie, a Seacoast resident-turned-activist, said the company is not listening to concerns about the fuel farm.

“Million Air’s dismissive attitude toward these legitimate environmental concerns tells us a lot about their priorities,” Seiglie said in a recent statement.

The Pease Technical Review Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Jan. 17 on the Million Air proposal. Seiglie, whose group wants the proposal moved further away from the wetlands, has collected more than 800 signatures on a petition to stop the project in its current location.

Million Air, the Texas-based company looking to expand into New Hampshire, is heading back to the Pease Development Authority this month for approval of its proposed new fixed-base operator facility and hangar at the Tradeport. 

A public hearing is set before the Pease board’s Technical Review Committee on Jan. 17, even as residents concerned about environmental impacts are galvanizing into opposition.

“Million Air’s dismissive attitude toward these legitimate environmental concerns tells us a lot about their priorities,” said Dania Seiglie, activist and critic of the Million Air proposal.

Meanwhile, Million Air is currently involved in a messy lawsuit with Westchester County, N.Y. where the company said county officials violated the lease agreement at the county airport.

The proposed Million Air facility at the Tradeport includes a new 12,000-square-foot hangar for a total project footprint of 26,000 square feet. Also included is a 90,000-gallon fuel farm that locals say is too close to the region’s drinking water supply.

The Portsmouth region is already dealing with PFAS-contaminated drinking water as a result of the United States Air Force operations at Pease.

Seiglie said the company is not showing it takes the issue seriously. “This is about credibility. When we initially voiced concerns, Million Air’s leadership publicly responded by dismissing us without direct comment and instead claiming the local opposition is about competition. Million Air isn’t listening and judging by the legal fights this company has had in other states around similar projects, they won’t ever listen if it means abandoning their chosen site. That is one of the reasons local opposition is growing. Several hundred area residents have signed a petition opposing the MA plan and that number will likely grow.”

In Westchester County, Million Air’s plans ran afoul of officials who claim the company started moving forward with buildings and a stormwater system never approved by the county. According to Westchester’s counter-complaint, Million Air is trying to build a facility to service private jets after it was initially approved for light general aviation customers.

The company filed the lawsuit when Westchester officials tried to stop their project. Peter Bragdon, the New Hampshire spokesman for Million Air, said the company is simply trying to get the county to honor the original agreement.

“Million Air is trying to force compliance with the lease agreement, which Million Air asserts the County has violated,” Bragdon said.

Seiglie and hundreds of residents have signed a petition asking Million Air to relocate its proposed FBO away from the wetlands, and to another site at Pease. She wants the committee to stop the plan altogether, or at least delay it and allow the FAA to review Million Air’s proposal.

“We believe this proposal before the technical review committee should be rejected based on specific environmental impact concerns, or at least delayed until the FAA has reviewed the proposed project proposal,” Seiglie.

Bragdon said the concerns of the resident are misplaced. Million Air will build a better, cleaner facility than anything at Pease currently, he said.

“Million Air is proposing a state-of-the-art facility that goes above and beyond required containment standards, many of which the two aging fuel farms operated by the existing FBO, Port City Air, do not meet. The new facility will be decades newer and environmentally safer than the aging – and much larger – existing fuel farms,” Bragdon said.

Pease is already home to Port City Air, which has a fuel farm also close to the same wetlands. Bragdon said Million Air’s facility will be safer than Port City’s.

“The proposed Million Air facility has multiple redundancies to protect the environment, including new technologies that would likely have prevented the several documented spills that have occurred as part of Port City Air’s operations,” Bragdon said. “These protections include double-walled storage tanks and piping, retention berms, oil stop valves, oversized containment chambers, and oil-water separators. The system will be backed up with failsafe alarms, control valves, and high-level gauging instrumentation.”

Roger Wiegley, another concerned citizen turned activist, said the Pease bard needs to show leadership and stop Million Air. The project should have been brought to the FAA for review since it would change the layout at the airport, according to Wiegley.

“A revised airport layout plan must be delivered to the FAA and to date, that has not happened. This critical step in the process has been either deliberately avoided or overlooked,” Wiegley said.

As Seacoast residents raise the alarm about the proposed 90,000-gallon jet fuel storage being built at Pease International Tradeport by private air company Million Air, the company is pushing back. 

“Million Air is proposing new tanks with state-of-the-art leak detection, prevention, and containment systems designed to meet or exceed current best practices,” said Peter Bragdon, a spokesman for the Houston-based company. “As long as planes are flying in and out of Pease, fuel will be needed for those planes. Doesn’t it make sense to have the most modern, up-to-date systems available?”

Concerned residents and environmental activists held a press conference last week to protest the fuel tanks, which they said will be located too close to wetlands that feed into the local drinking water supply.

“What’s concerning is how all this is being handled. For example, Million Air’s site development plans underestimate the wetlands impact of this project, ignore the previous contamination that still exists, and the plan places fuel storage within feet of these sensitive wetlands,” said Seacoast resident Dania Seiglie.

The fuel tanks that make up Million Air’s proposed fuel farm would be about 100 feet away from the wetlands in question. Million Air COO Chuck Suma said the residents’ concerns about the fuel farm are misplaced.

“We know how to manage a fuel farm and we know how to do this in an environmentally friendly way,” Suma said. “I would never allow or sanction or run my facilities in such a way that would negatively impact the area around it.”

Critics argue that even if the fuel farm isn’t technically in the wetlands area — a claim they dispute — even Million Air admits it wants to build a roadway through it. Worse, the area is still dealing with drinking water contaminated with PFAS chemicals left over from the U.S. Air Force base that used to be located at Pease.

“Much like PFAS and previous water contamination concerns, this is a priority for local residents worried about clean water because it’s all connected,” Seiglie said. “This site mid-Pease connects directly to North Mill Pond by Hodgson’s Brook and from here, contamination can easily reach the Piscataqua.”

PFAS chemicals are linked to certain types of cancer, birth defects, and other serious health issues. The man-made chemicals are found in oils, jet fuels, industrial degreasers, and firefighting foam, among other uses. PFAS contamination has been found in the Seacoast region, as well as in communities like Merrimack, Bedford, and Litchfield stemming from the Saint-Gobain manufacturing plant in Merrimack. There is also a PFAS problem in the communities near the Coakley Landfill in North Hampton.

The chemicals have an unusually long half-life and can stay in the human body for decades after exposure.

Bragdon said the company’s plans are environmentally sound. Plans for the driveway have won the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Safety’s approval.

“The only wetland issue involving the Million Air proposal has to do with a driveway that will be needed so customers can access the site from the public streets – dropping off and picking up clients, for instance,” Bragdon said. “Million Air has worked diligently to minimize wetland issues with the driveway, for instance by moving the driveway as far north as possible to avoid wetland impacts.”

The plans are not safe enough for the concerned residents and activists, however. State Rep. Debra Altschiller (D-Stratham) wants the company to change the plans to move its proposed site farther away from the sensitive area, which she said is doable for the business.

“Everyone here knows there is actually another completely appropriate and equally sized piece of property less than a mile from the proposed project space and that land doesn’t need to have a road built through a wetland to roll trucks over,” Altschiller said. “There is an alternative that doesn’t even need variances to operate next to precious water resources. It is available and ready to be developed.”

Million Air is building a fixed-base operations center at Pease that will include a 12,000-square-foot hangar. Bragdon said the company is working with DES and all the relevant agencies to make sure its project is done correctly and safely.

Suma said the company will employ about 30 people full-time. Million Air’s FBO will attract businesses to the region and bring more money to the Seacoast.

“We’re going to be changing the demographics coming in and out of the airport,” Suma said. “There are opportunities there and we want to be a good partner with the community and the (Pease Development Authority) board.”

Seiglie, however, questioned the company’s push to get the FBO up and running, saying it is moving faster than normal to avoid public scrutiny.

“This company has done this elsewhere, getting permissions without public scrutiny or knowledge – including places like New York where there are major environmental concerns and the project was pitched without proper review. So, we are worried,” Seiglie said.

Million Air is currently involved in a federal lawsuit with Westchester County, N.Y. over the company’s project at the Harrisville, N.Y. airport.

Pease already has an FBO operated by Port City Air, and Port City’s company attorney, Dan Hoefle, is joining the chorus of the opposition. He said Port City was never properly informed about Million Air’s proposal, despite Port City being an abutter to the project. Hoefle said the site Million Air is using is not suitable for the project.

“Port City is well aware of this plot of land in question. We would never develop on this particular parcel of land for the very reasons cited,” Hoefle said.

Bragdon and Suma blame Port City for ginning up the opposition to Million Air’s plans and trying to get the competitor’s plans delayed.

“Port City is self-serving and stirring this up,” Suma said.

Suma accused Port City of trying to hold on to its monopoly at the airfield by delaying Million Air’s plans. Suma said he’d not worried about the competition, likening the two companies to Motel 6 versus the Four Seasons. Right now, the Motel 6 FBO, Port City, is scrambling to hold on to the business, Suma said.

“This is all stuff being thrown in the air by Port City Air. They have a monopoly on the airport, and you have a Motel 6 driving what can be done at the airport,” Suma said.

Port City already has fuel storage tanks close to where Million Air plans to put its tanks, Suma said, and those tanks are old and present a danger to the wetlands. The area around Pease is also dotted with gas stations and heating oil companies, which seem to be escaping the ire of the residents concerned about drinking water, Suma said.

“If the community is concerned, they should be looking at Port City fuel farms and the gas stations and heating oil facilities nearby,” Suma said.

Hoefle said Port City’s fuel farm is safe and meets all current standards. He said the company will continue to work with state and federal regulators to make sure the tanks stay in compliance.

“Port City Air’s tanks are regularly maintained, they are in fine shape,” Hoefle said. “They will continually be maintained and regulated.”

Hoefle said Port City has no problem with Million Air bringing an FBO to Pease, just not in the location they have picked.

“We don’t have any problem with competition, but this isn’t the site for it,” Hoefle said.