Read the full article by David Schultz

“There’s a new contamination problem people are calling ‘the new asbestos.’ It’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS.

PFAS have been linked to numerous health problems, and cities and towns across the country have been finding them in their water supplies—especially towns around military bases.

Why? Because PFAS was commonly used in firefighting foam that was sprayed liberally on tarmacs and airstrips.

Maureen Sullivan is the Pentagon’s point person for addressing this mushrooming problem. She said the cost of cleaning up PFAS contamination could exceed $2 billion and take a generation to complete.

You can listen to our conversation with Sullivan here. We spoke to Sullivan at the annual conference of the Environmental Council of the States in Stowe, Vt. Visit our website for earlier episodes of our podcast, Parts Per Billion, from the ECOS conference.”