Kathleen Sciarappa

February 9, 2026 Dear Honorable Representative, Thank you for serving as a New Hampshire representative and working with the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee. I am writing to support HB 1614 which would restrict the sale and use of coal tar-based sealant products that contain high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are carcinogenic compounds toxic to aquatic life and contain persistent products that alter the chemistry of water. On Mirror Lake, we worked for twelve years to remedy the action points recommended in a Watershed Management Plan written in 2012 by Geosyntec regarding Mirror Lake. Several of the measures taken were directed at “impervious surfaces” including streets, roofs, driveways, and parking areas and other such surfaces. We learned through this work the negative impact of impervious surfaces as they relate to water flow. What we did not consider was the impact of the chemical products used on the surfaces themselves. As we begin our new 2026 Watershed Management Plan with Comprehensive Environmental Inc. we are far more familiar with and alarmed by the impact of chemicals in fertilizer, insecticide and now materials used in impervious surfaces. Your support of HB 1614 has far reaching implications for the future of lakes. Rather than continuing to allow surface materials to enter lakes and other waterways filling them with toxic, persistent, and carcinogenic materials the passage of HB 1614 would take the development of impervious surfaces into the direction of healthier alternatives, which already exist. Most sincerely, Dr. Kathleen Sciarappa President, Mirror Lake Protective Association