{"id":62048,"date":"2021-05-26T21:18:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T21:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/26\/it-will-probably-be-decades-before-dod-can-clean-up-all-the-toxic-forever-chemicals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:53:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:53:03","slug":"it-will-probably-be-decades-before-dod-can-clean-up-all-the-toxic-forever-chemicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/newsletters\/2021\/05\/26\/it-will-probably-be-decades-before-dod-can-clean-up-all-the-toxic-forever-chemicals\/","title":{"rendered":"It will probably be decades before DoD can clean up all the toxic \u2018forever chemicals\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Defense Department is working its way through a massive list of installations that are or might be contaminated with chemicals linked to cancer<\/a>, but it will be years before they have a full grasp on the scope of the issue, and decades before they\u2019re able to clean it all up<\/a>, an official told lawmakers Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just that there is so much to clean up, the deputy assistant defense secretary for environment and energy resilience said during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. It\u2019s that technology is still trying to catch up to the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rate of progress is defined primarily by the rules that govern our physical world. Physics, chemistry, science,\u201d Richard Kidd said in his prepared remarks. \u201cBased on what we know today \u2014 and known technology \u2015 frankly, it will be years before we fully define the scope of the problem and with that definition can reflect it in our budget request, and after that, probably decades before cleanup is complete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon\u2019s PFAS task force<\/a>, which is studying and making recommendations about cleanup of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, knows of 698 installations<\/a> that are or could potentially be contaminated, Kidd said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of those, 129 have completed a preliminary assessment; 66 require \u201cno further action,\u201d he said, while another 66 are under further investigation and will possibly need to be cleaned up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue hinges mostly on whether PFAS, a component of aqueous film-forming foam that the military uses for firefighting, has infiltrated water sources on and around military bases, where it would cause the most risk to people. Cleanup is prioritized by the volume of contamination and the risk it poses to people living nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expectation, Kidd said, is that DoD will complete all of its assessments by the end of 2023, then get on with the business of deciding how to remediate contamination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, there have been several mitigation measures. Cleanup has been an ongoing effort since the 1980s, and it\u2019s been years since firefighting foam has been used in training, where the bulk of the chemicals were expended previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are confident that no one is drinking water with PFOS or PFOA above [the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s] lifetime health advisory of 70 parts per trillion, where the Department of Defense is the known source,\u201d Kidd said, thanks to efforts to filter local water.<\/p>\n\n\n\t