High levels of Pfas stemming from the base have tainted water, damaged crops and poisoned cows in the area
The state of New Mexico is suing the US air force over its refusal to comply with orders to address extremely high levels of Pfas pollution stemming from its base, which has tainted drinking water for tens of thousands of people, damaged crops and poisoned dairy cows.
Though the military acknowledges Pfas-laden firefighting foam from Cannon air force base is the source of a four mile chemical plume in the aquifer below Clovis, New Mexico, it has refused to comply with most state orders to address the issue.
The new lawsuit filed by the state’s justice and environmental departments is the latest salvo in the seven-year battle over the pollution, and comes after changes to state law that strengthened New Mexico’s legal position.
This sounds almost identical to the PFAS problem west of Spokane WA.
https://westplainswater.org/
The so-called “West Plains” area is home to both the Spokane airport (GEG) and Fairchild Air Force Base. The latter is a huge refueling base with tankers flying in/out all the time. It’s surrounded by a lot of cropland and has one of those common “military towns” adjacent to it - the city of “Airway Heights”. Trump 2024 signs everywhere.
From what I understand, the problem originates from PFAS chemicals used in the base’s firefighting operations. I’ve been told by an employee of the local power company that the base has all of its water pumped uphill from the Spokane river now. I don’t know what Airway Heights or surrounding residents do … maybe they just drink bottled water and avoid bathing.
And about every other US military base in the US, and probably the world.