PFAS cleanup delay at Fairchild ‘unacceptable,’ writes Sen. Patty Murray in letter to Defense Department

Washington Sen. Patty Murray is calling on the Department of Defense to clean up PFAS at Fairchild Air Force Base sooner rather than later.

“Americans deserve to know why the Department is suddenly delaying efforts to provide clean drinking water for military families and the communities that support them,” the Democratic senator wrote in a letter sent to the Defense Department.

PFAS clean-up across 140 military instillations was delayed by the agency in September. At Fairchild Air Force Base, efforts to remove PFAS would be delayed until 2032

Known as “forever chemicals,” perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a set of manmade chemicals used in thousands of products over the decades. High levels have since been linked to cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, low birth weight and other diseases.

Plans for cleanup of the groundwater below and near Fairchild have been ongoing since 2017. The base completed a preliminary assessment and released an investigation on the impact of PFAS exposure this summer.

The next step would be a feasibility study comparing the different methods to clean PFAS contamination on the base and only then would the cleanup take place. That feasibility study was slated to be complete by July 2026 but now delayed to June 2032 under the new Defense Department directive.

In her letter, Murray requested a briefing on the PFAS cleanup delays before Dec. 15.

“Eliminating toxic PFAS contamination at our military bases and ensuring military families have safe drinking water must be a top priority for the Department – any attempts to delay or slow-walk this important cleanup work is unacceptable,” Murray wrote.