The Fish Died First
Sandra Reyes remembers the summer of 2014 clearly. She was swimming in the Millhaven River with her children when her daughter pointed at the bank and asked why all the fish were floating on their sides.
"I told her they were just sleeping," Reyes said. "I didn't want to scare her. But I could smell something — chemical, like cleaning fluid. We got out of the water."
That was the first of dozens of similar reports to Millhaven County's environmental health office that summer. The last was filed last month, in 2026 — twelve years and thousands of tests, complaints, and unanswered requests later.
At the center of it all: ClearPath Industrial Solutions, a specialty chemical manufacturer whose 340-acre facility sits along the river's northern bank, four miles upstream from the county's main public water intake.
What ClearPath Knew
GripeNation obtained internal documents from ClearPath through litigation discovery records filed as part of a class-action lawsuit now proceeding in federal court. The documents reveal that the company's own environmental compliance team identified elevated levels of PFAS compounds — commonly known as "forever chemicals" — in groundwater near the facility as early as 2013.
A 2014 internal memo from ClearPath's environmental director, obtained by GripeNation, reads: "Preliminary groundwater monitoring results indicate exceedances of anticipated PFAS benchmarks in Monitoring Wells 7, 9, and 12. Recommend immediate assessment of migration pathways toward surface water. Note: results must be reviewed by legal prior to any external communication."
No external communication was made. The state environmental agency did not receive the monitoring data. The county water authority was not notified.
For the next seven years, ClearPath's quarterly environmental reports to state regulators listed monitoring wells 7, 9, and 12 as "within acceptable parameters." The reports were prepared by a third-party consulting firm that, according to its contract documents, was paid $240,000 annually by ClearPath.
The Regulators Who Looked Away
State environmental agency inspection records, obtained through public records requests, show that ClearPath's facility received seven routine inspections between 2013 and 2020. All seven resulted in full compliance certifications.
A whistleblower who worked as a junior inspector at the state agency during three of those inspections told GripeNation that inspectors were routinely directed to pre-schedule facility visits with at least two weeks' notice — a practice that, the source said, was "understood by everyone to mean the company has time to clean up whatever they need to clean up."
The state agency's enforcement division did not respond to questions about its inspection practices.
The Health Toll
Epidemiological data from Millhaven County shows elevated rates of thyroid disease, kidney cancer, and developmental delays in children in the neighborhoods served by the county's main water system downstream of the ClearPath facility — the same system drawing from the Millhaven River.
The county health department has not conducted a formal study linking these health outcomes to water quality. A health department spokesperson said that "correlation does not establish causation" and that the county "takes water quality concerns seriously."
Sandra Reyes's daughter, now 17, was diagnosed with a thyroid condition at age 14. Her son was treated for kidney issues at 12.
"They kept telling us the water was safe," Reyes said. "They kept telling us that for eleven years. I want to know who made that decision. I want them to look at my kids and say that to their face."
ClearPath Responds
ClearPath Industrial Solutions issued a statement saying it "takes its environmental responsibilities extremely seriously" and that it "cooperates fully with all regulatory requirements." The company said it could not comment on matters related to pending litigation.
The class-action suit, filed on behalf of more than 400 Millhaven County residents, is scheduled for trial next spring.
If you have information about environmental violations, corporate misconduct, or regulatory failures in your community, GripeNation wants to hear from you. Submit tips securely through our protected submission portal.