To Our Neighbors and Friends,
Cecil County is a vibrant community that Gore is honored to call home. Today, over 100,000 people live in Cecil County, nearly twice as many who lived here when Gore first joined the community more than 50 years ago. We’re pleased to have contributed to that growth as we’ve grown to become the largest private employer in the county.
We’re proud of what we do here. We make medical devices that improve patients’ quality of life. Filters that ensure clean air for metals and cement plants. Containers that keep sensitive drug products secure from damage and contamination. Vents that protect cell phones from water and other liquids – plus hundreds more products that deliver valuable solutions for customers and consumers. And we’re deeply proud of the 2,900 Gore Associates who work at our facilities in Cecil County, many of whom live, send their children to school, shop, and engage in recreational activities here as well.
For this reason, we have always been a responsible steward of the environment that stands behind our record of compliance with all laws and regulations. We continue our responsible stewardship today and will in the future. As you would expect for a company that thinks long-term and cares for its neighbors and the community, we have continually sought to upgrade our operations consistent with evolving science and regulation. This has always been our commitment, and it will not change. While there will be a time and place for Gore to contest some of the untrue statements made by lawyers, Gore is committed to the growth and prosperity of this community.
Our commitment reflects our desire to protect and enhance the wellbeing of the communities where we have facilities, and where our Associates live and work. As an example, Gore Associates are encouraged to become active in the community organizations that matter to them. Just in the last three years, our Associates in the area have taken more than 11,400 hours of paid leave time to volunteer with local non-profit organizations including Cecil County Youth Life, House of Hope Animal Rescue, Union Hospital Foundation, and many others. We have made financial contributions including sponsoring the Fair Hill Nature Center Fox Trot 5K and Cecil County Youth Football League. These are just some of the ways we strive to make Cecil County an even better place for everyone in the community.
The quality of life in our community and environmental quality go hand in hand. It is why we have been actively engaging with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), and committing millions of dollars, to investigate and address potential environmental impacts here. To date, we have offered Point-of-Entry-Treatment (POET) water treatment systems, an EPA Best Available Technology for the removal of many substances including PFOA, to 146 residents, and provided connections to nearby local water lines for another 13 homes.
To be clear, Gore does not now and never has manufactured PFOA. Since 2006, Gore has only purchased raw materials from suppliers who commit to not using PFOA as a manufacturing aid. It’s why we have proactively worked in close coordination with MDE for over two years to assess the presence of PFOA in groundwater near four of our Cecil County facilities. It’s why we are using a thoughtful, stepwise approach, guided by data and science, to inform our active assessment of the potential impacts of PFOA at the four Cecil County sites.
And it’s why we have created this website, forward.gore.com, as a resource for our community. Our goal is always to offer the most up to date information not only from us, but from experts on issues of importance. We want you, as our neighbors, to have a source of accurate information. We will continue to update this Gore Forward website with new, science- and data-driven information as soon as it becomes available. If we don’t have an answer to your question, we will provide resources where the answers can be found.
Please do not hesitate to turn to us when you have questions.
Sincerely, W. L. Gore & Associates