navy

The Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland has continued to expand, contributing to rapid population growth in the surrounding area. There are approximately 17,500 military, civilian, contractors and nonappropriated fund personnel that work at the Naval Air Station on a normal day. But with expansion comes higher scrutiny on environmental impacts, and Patuxent River NAS has definitely made an impact.

Two wells bordering the base’s southern edge have been found to have potentially harmful levels of PFAS from firefighting foams used on the base. Chemical studies show that this “forever chemical” can have harmful impacts on health, from cancer to immune and endocrine system deficiencies and more.

Enewetak is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 850 people forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its land area totals less than 5.85 square kilometres (2.26 sq mi), not higher than 5 metres and surrounding a deep central lagoon, 80 kilometres (50 mi) in circumference. It is the second-westernmost atoll of the Ralik Chain and is 305 kilometres (190 mi) west from Bikini Atoll. A total of 67 nuclear and atmospheric bombs were detonated on Enewetak and Bikini between 1946 and 1958. To put this in perspective, you would have to detonate 1.6 Hiroshima bombs every day for 12 years to match the explosive yield derived from these tests. The radioactivity left behind is palpable.

From 1985 to 2001, personnel at Naval Air Facility (NAF) Atsugi in Atsugi, Japan may have been exposed to environmental contaminants from off-base waste incinerators. The incinerators were shut down in May 2001.

This 1,200 acre site is comprised of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove (NASJRB/WG) and the Willow Grove Air Reserve Station (WGARS), which are operating U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force installations, respectively, located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Activities that generate, store, or dispose of hazardous waste at the facilities fall into four general categories: (1) aircraft maintenance; (2) base civil engineering; (3) fuel operation and (4) personnel training.

On February 6, 2020 the California State Water Resources Control Board lowered its  “Response Level” to 10 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA and 40 ppt for PFOS. Under a new California law (Assembly Bill 756), if a water system exceeds the response levels for these carcinogens, the system is required to take the water source out of service or provide public notification within 30 days of the confirmed detection.  Previously, the response level was 70 ppt for the total concentration of the two contaminants combined.

The Democratic leadership in the House and the nation’s leading environmental organizations have praised the PFAS Action Act, although the measure is a disaster for public health and the environment on several fronts. The bill passed the House of Representatives on January 10, 2020. The vote was 247-159, with 223 Democrats voting for the measure along with 24 Republicans.

Brett Simpson’s article, The Coming National Water-Quality Crisis, (Jan. 14) did not fully examine the extent of PFAS contamination in Pleasanton’s water and failed to consider nearby military installations as a potential cause of PFAS contamination in the town’s water.Brett Simpson’s article, The Coming National Water-Quality Crisis, (Jan. 14) did not fully examine the extent of PFAS contamination in Pleasanton’s water and failed to consider nearby military installations as a potential cause of PFAS contamination in the town’s water.

Thousands of gallons of per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances, (PFAS) have polluted the groundwater, surface water, soils and the sewer systems in and around Beale Air Force Base.

Last week I disrupted the initial Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting for citizens of Chesapeake Beach who live close to the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory – Chesapeake Bay Detachment, or NRL-CBD as the Navy prefers to call it. Chesapeake Beach is a highly contaminated Navy town just 35 miles southeast of Washington.