US air force backpedals claim it is not responsible for PFAS cleanup in Arizona

By Tom Perkins | The Guardian | November 11, 2024

Read the full article by Tom Perkins (The Guardian)

"The US air force has backpedaled on a claim that the supreme court’s recent reversal of the Chevron doctrine shields it against regulators’ orders to clean drinking water the military polluted in Tucson, Arizona.

The air force’s bases partially contaminated water supplies for more than 500,000 people with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds. In a July letter in which it refused to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s May orders to address the problem, air force attorneys cited the reversal of Chevron. It claimed “the EPA’s order can not withstand review”.

However, in a 24 October letter, the air force changed its position, and agreed to partially fund treatment plants that will remove the extremely high levels of PFAS contaminating some of Tucson’s water supplies. The change of course follows an August Guardian story on the issue that generated outrage."