Three dozen members of Congress, including two Republicans, asked Wednesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explain why the Pentagon has pushed back its cleanup of “forever chemical” contamination at nearly 140 military sites nationwide.
The New York Times reported last month that the Department of Defense had delayed its cleanup efforts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, which are used in firefighting foam at military installations across the country. The chemicals are linked to serious diseases including cancer.
The delays extended the timelines for cleanup of contaminated water and soil by an average of five years, and in some cases by almost a decade.
In a letter to Mr. Hegseth, the 36 lawmakers, led by Democrats Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico, said they were “alarmed” to learn of the delays reported by The Times. Two Republican members of Congress, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mike Lawler of New York, also signed the letter.
“For years, our defense communities have suffered from the consequences of this contamination,” the letter said. “The DOD has a serious responsibility to these communities, including service members and their families.”
In a statement, Ciro Riccardi, the communications director for Representative Lawler said “PFAS contamination has a devastating impact on military families and surrounding communities across the country.”
The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an earlier statement to The Times, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson attributed the delays to “an evolving understanding of PFAS conditions at our military installations and additional investigation” based on more stringent drinking-water standards that the federal government introduced last year. The military remained “committed to addressing PFAS and remains transparent” about its efforts, Ms. Wilson said.
A growing body of research has linked PFAS exposure to increased cancer risks, adverse reproductive effects and developmental effects or delays in children.
PFAS contamination at military sites was for the first time publicly reported in 2010 at the shuttered Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan. Since then, military communities nationwide have reported alarming levels of the chemicals in drinking water.
Defense officials say 723 military installations and their surrounding communities across the nation are or may be contaminated with PFAS chemicals. Its efforts to start cleaning up the chemicals have been hampered by the immense scale of contamination, as well as the lack of readily available cleanup technology.
Ultimately, the cleanup could take decades and cost billions of dollars, officials say.
In an interview, New Mexico congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández, whose constituency includes the contaminated Cannon Air Force Base, southwest of Clovis, N.M., said she had been blindsided by the cleanup delays. PFAS from the base, first publicly reported in 2018, shut down a dairy farm and affected local water supplies. Now, cleanup at the base has been delayed by six more years.
“Why wasn’t there any communication with the communities that support these bases?” she asked. “These aren’t communities that are hostile to the bases, they’re communities that welcomed them.”
Hiroko Tabuchi covers pollution and the environment for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York.
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