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Defend Veterans and Military Families From Toxic PFAS Contamination

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Sponsor: The Veterans Site

Call for a full cleanup and justice for service members, veterans, military families, and defense communities harmed by PFAS contamination.

Soldier in cold-weather gear and helmet drinks from a large water bottle while standing outdoors in a snowy landscape.

Service members, veterans, military families, and nearby communities have carried the burden of PFAS contamination for decades. These “forever chemicals” were widely used in firefighting foam at military installations, where they seeped into soil, groundwater, drinking water, farms, and homes.

Military PFAS Cleanup Is Still Far Behind

The Department of Defense has identified hundreds of active installations, former military sites, National Guard facilities, and related locations where PFAS releases may require cleanup.1 A 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that DoD had completed early assessment work at nearly all 718 installations identified as having a potential PFAS release, but no locations had entered the long-term cleanup phase as of June 2024.2

Communities Near Bases Are Already Paying The Price

The cost of delay is not abstract. Near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, state testing found elevated PFAS blood levels among people who lived or worked near the contaminated zone, with some exposure linked to firefighting foam used by the military.3 The same contamination has affected private wells, public water, farmland, and local dairies.

Federal Protections Must Not Be Weakened

EPA has taken important steps by keeping enforceable drinking water limits for PFOA and PFOS and retaining their designation as hazardous substances under CERCLA, also known as Superfund.4 But proposed rollbacks, delayed compliance timelines, and postponed cleanup schedules threaten to leave affected families waiting even longer for safe water and accountability.5

Congress, the EPA, and the Department of Defense must protect the rules already in place, reject rollbacks that weaken public health safeguards, accelerate military-site cleanup, expand health monitoring, and make polluters pay for the contamination they caused.

Sign now to demand full cleanup and justice for service members, veterans, military families, and defense communities harmed by PFAS contamination.

More on this issue:

  1. U.S. Department of Defense (2026), “Cleanup of PFAS.”
  2. U.S. Government Accountability Office (25 Feb 2025), “Persistent Chemicals: DOD Needs to Provide Congress More Information on Costs Associated With Addressing PFAS.”
  3. The Guardian (23 Aug 2025), “Alarming Levels of PFAS in Blood of Those Living Near US Air Force Base, Study Finds.”
  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (23 April 2026), “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances PFAS.”
  5. U.S. House of Representatives (22 Oct 2025), “Letter to Secretary Hegseth Regarding PFAS Cleanup Delays.”

The Petition

To the EPA Administrator, Secretary of Defense, and Members of Congress,

Service members, veterans, military families, and defense communities deserve clean water, honest answers, and timely cleanup from PFAS contamination linked to military activities.

PFAS chemicals were widely used in firefighting foam at military installations. They persist in the environment and can move through soil and water into homes, farms, and drinking water supplies. The Department of Defense has identified hundreds of locations where PFAS releases may require investigation and cleanup.

A 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that DoD had completed early assessment work at nearly all 718 installations identified as having a potential PFAS release, but no locations had entered the long-term cleanup phase as of June 2024. Families should not be forced to wait years more while contamination remains unresolved.

Recent evidence near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico shows why action cannot be delayed. PFAS blood testing found elevated levels among people who lived or worked near the contaminated zone, and contamination has affected wells, farms, and nearby communities.

I urge you to defend and enforce the CERCLA hazardous substance designation for PFOA and PFOS, preserve strong drinking water protections, restore and accelerate military PFAS cleanup timelines, fund long-term health monitoring for exposed service members and communities, and ensure polluters pay for the full cost of cleanup.

Our military families have already sacrificed enough. They should not also bear the cost of toxic contamination that should have been prevented.

Sincerely,