Pentagon’s new chief attacks military base water contamination
Source: https://www.macon.com, July 24, 2019
By: Tara Copp
The Pentagon is launching a task force to look at the potential impact and dangers that chemical compounds used in military firefighting foam have had on military bases and the families who live there, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced on his first day in office.
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are compounds found in everyday plastics and household products, but are concentrated in firefighting foam which the military has used for decades. That foam has seeped into the groundwater and well water surrounding military bases and has been found in drinking water sources.
Last year the Pentagon published a list of hundreds of contaminated private and public water sources on military bases and in the communities surrounding those installations. The compounds have been linked to cancers, reproductive problems and birth defects.
Esper told reporters that he had issued a memo to create the task force, making it one of his first actions as defense secretary and signaling that it is a high priority.
The task force will include the Environmental Protection Agency, the military services, the Pentagon’s health affairs policy office and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Esper directed the task force to be underway within 30 days, and provide a report within six months.
While the foam is no longer used in training exercises, it remains in use elsewhere in the military, particularly on Navy ships.
The Pentagon’s 2018 review found groundwater contamination at many of the installations it tested.
“I’ve asked them to include the EPA and other parts of the interagency to make sure we go after this problem very aggressively,” Esper said.
Veterans or their families across the United States have reported cancers and testified before Congress on the suspected impact contaminated water on military bases has had on their lives.
When asked what the Pentagon’s outreach would be to the veteran community, Esper said, “I think we need to be following the science on this, and one of those agencies we should be talking to is the VA.”
“We need to understand the problem and make sure we have our hands fully around it. Follow the science, and then obviously if there’s a relationship there (between the PFAs and cancers) we need to do our due diligence,” he said.
