Monday, March 28, 2022 - The Department of Defense (D)J) admits that they have been disposing of hazardous materials by using burn pits and extinguishing monthly burn pit fires with toxic firefighting foam for decades. Military bases use firefighting foam to extinguish other fires such as jetfuel and petroleum-based fires and then wash the firefighting foam and jet fuel residue directly into the groundwater. According to an article in The Rapid City Journal, the US Air Force will be among the first branches of the military to attempt to clean up the base and surrounding area of toxic, PFAS forever chemicals starting in 2030. The US Airforce has been the largest consumer of firefighting foam and today, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses requires by law that airports stock and use toxic firefighting foam in case of jet-fuel fires. The RCJ reports, "Hundreds of residents and 26 private wells in the area were impacted with contamination of per and polyfluoroalkyl substances at levels 10 times what the Environmental Protection Agency deems safe. The substances are linked to PFAS cancer, thyroid disease, weakened immunity, and other health problems." Air Force spokespersons told The RCJ that the PFAS drinking water investigations began in 2020 to gauge the extent firefighting foam was used on the base from 1970 to 2015... a span of fourth five years.
The Air Force's remedial plan is aimed at providing clean drinking water to the base and also to the surrounding communities by creating a pipeline from a local aquifer or other nearby clean water sources directly to homes and businesses. The Elsworth clean water initiative may serve as a model for the hundreds of other military bases that used firefighting foam to extinguish monthly burn pit or jet-fuel fires. Including the Air Force, more than 400 total military bases in the US have tested positive for PFAS carcinogenic chemicals. In addition, the government estimates that as many as 20,000 communities have private or commercial airports that are required by law to train in the use of toxic firefighting foam to extinguish jet-fuel fires. Thousands of municipalities including the one in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, have fire departments that regularly train in using firefighting foam and may have contaminated their local drinking water supply. One of the most insidious aspects of cancer that people get from drinking tap water at or around US military bases is that toxic water contamination could have affected millions of unborn children. A large percentage of military families have lived on or near the base and lived, worked, and played in tap water contaminated by toxic forever PFAAS chemicals. Another is that toxic drinking water cancer may take five to fifteen years to develop during which time it could become untreatable. Young, growing military families have been ingesting toxic forever chemicals for the last fifty years and it is much too late to do anything about it.
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