‘Deeply concerning.’ PFAS cleanup delayed at Scott Air Force Base
Cleanup of “forever chemicals” known as PFAS at Scott Air Force Base will be delayed by five years, according to new timetables released recently without explanation by the U.S. Department of Defense.
PFAS is shorthand for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The synthetic chemicals have been used for decades to make products that repel oil and water such as nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, stain resistant furniture, food packaging and cosmetics, as well as firefighting foams used by the military.
The Defense Department is in the process of cleaning PFAS out of groundwater and private drinking water wells near military installations across the country because of the health risks.
The decision to delay that process at Scott Air Force Base, among other locations, is drawing criticism from three of the metro-east’s Democratic lawmakers, U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski.
“You would expect an administration that claims to prioritize ‘Making America Healthy Again’ would be interested in expediting this clean up — not further delaying it,” Budzinski said in a statement to the Belleville News-Democrat, referencing a slogan used by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“... The Trump administration owes it to our military servicemembers and those across our communities to reverse this decision and return to the original cleanup timeline.”
Duckworth called the decision “deeply concerning.”
“The Trump administration continues rolling back, delaying and even eliminating the programs, regulations and efforts to keep our environment safe and clean up these toxic chemicals,” she stated. “... This delay is deeply concerning, and I’m going to do what I can to ensure remediation at Scott Air Force Base happens in a timely manner.”
A spokesperson for Duckworth said her office plans to request information about the Defense Department’s decision-making process and the impacts of this decision from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office.
Durbin accused the Defense Department of abdicating its responsibility.
“No one should have to worry that their community is contaminated by PFAS,” Durbin stated. “It’s a matter of public health.”
Scott Air Force Base Public Affairs could not immediately respond to requests for comment about the reason for the delay, citing employee furloughs associated with the federal government shutdown. U.S. Rep Mike Bost, a Republican who represents the metro-east, could not immediately be reached for comment.
New timetables delaying cleanup released quietly
The New York Times first reported the department’s new timetables for PFAS cleanup at military installations in late September.
The timetables are included in a document dated March 31, which was not published until August, according to a BND review of archived versions of the Defense Department’s PFAS website. The Times reported that the department made no announcement about the delays and that the agency did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment.
At Scott Air Force Base, a PFAS remedial investigation has been underway since 2021, according to information previously released by the Defense Department.
The department states on its website that this part of the process typically takes three to six years while the government analyzes the health risk of PFAS contamination from a particular base. If it determines action is warranted, it also decides how it will clean up the site at this stage.
The newly-released timetables state the estimated completion date for Scott Air Force Base’s remedial investigation is now 2032. A timetable from December 2024, just three months earlier, had an estimated completion of 2027.
The Times reported that new regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2024, which set limits on the amount of PFAS allowed in drinking water, could be contributing to the delay because they raised the threshold for cleanup.
Residents sue over PFAS exposure from Scott Air Force Base
Metro-east residents who allege their exposure to PFAS from Scott Air Force Base caused cancer and other illnesses were unaware of the Defense Department’s decision to delay cleanup of the chemicals, according to Belleville attorney Lloyd Cueto, who is representing them in a federal lawsuit.
He said he thinks his nearly two dozen clients would find the news troubling.
“Like anybody who’s been hurt, it would be rather offensive — the idea that you could take steps to stop people from being hurt in the future and you’re not doing it,” Cueto said.
Last year, the 21 metro-east residents filed a lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court against the companies that produced the chemicals for years despite allegedly knowing about the health risks by the early 1980s. Among them are manufacturing conglomerate 3M, chemical company DuPont and more than 25 others.
PFAS are called forever chemicals because they break down very slowly and build up over time — including in the human body when people ingest them. They do not have any taste, color or odor.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to certain kinds of cancer, fertility and child development issues and other health problems.
The local residents allege that they were exposed to PFAS by drinking contaminated water over many years when they resided on or near Scott Air Force Base.
Four of the plaintiffs developed kidney cancer, and three developed thyroid cancer. Eight have thyroid disease or hypothyroidism. Six more were diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
Their lawsuit has since moved to federal court in South Carolina, where more than 10,000 PFAS cases have been consolidated.
Another lawsuit over PFAS exposure was filed in St. Clair County earlier this year and has also moved to South Carolina. It includes four metro-east residents who have been diagnosed with kidney cancer, thyroid cancer or thyroid disease. They do not specifically mention Scott Air Force Base in their complaint.
Their attorney, Christopher Schnieders, did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Military still phasing out firefighting foam with PFAS
The Air Force started using firefighting foams that contain PFAS in the 1970s to put out petroleum-based fires, such as a burning aircraft, as well as in training exercises.
Installations largely stopped using the foam for training in 2020. But the military is still working to completely phase out its use in firefighting.
A federal law from 2020 set a deadline to transition to a PFAS-free alternative by 2024, but it has been pushed back twice.
Most recently, Hegseth extended the deadline to 2026. He described the process as “complex, time-consuming, and supply-constrained.”
The Air Force previously said that it had transitioned the entire service by 2018 to a foam with a new formula that is free of one kind of PFAS called PFOS but contains trace amounts of another called PFOA.
It began transitioning to a new kind of foam in 2024, after the Defense Department determined the product met both a performance requirement to extinguish fires and contained no detectable levels of PFAS.
Scott Air Force Base could not immediately respond to BND questions about whether it continues using a firefighting foam with PFAS.
