Read the full article at EverythingLubbock
“JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas (NEWS RELEASE) — The following is a news release from the United States Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center:
The Air Force Civil Engineer Center began investigative field work in June, for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) around the former Reese Air Force Base, near Lubbock, Texas.
‘These investigations take us one step closer to fully understanding the nature and extent of contamination and helps us prepare for actions we may need to take,’ said Stephen TerMaath, Chief of the Air Force’s Base Realignment and Closure Program Management Division. ‘This is part of our commitment to protecting human health and drinking water supplies on and around all of our bases affected by our former Air Force activities.’
From 1970 until the base closure, Reese, like other Air Force bases with flying missions, trained Air Force firefighters to extinguish aircraft fires to save lives and property using aqueous film forming foam containing PFAS. Repeated use and discharge of the foam led to the contaminants seeping into the groundwater there.
‘We didn’t do this in neglect or violation of environmental laws; for a lot of years we all understood this to be a safe product and used it in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions,’ said TerMaath. ‘Now with the TCEQ’s issuance of Protective Concentration Levels for 16 PFAS chemicals, the Air Force is taking aggressive measures to ensure the community has safe drinking water and find long-term solutions to the contamination.’
Over the next six weeks AFCEC will install 25 monitoring wells in a 12 square mile area downgradient of the former base, which will provide a better understanding of source areas and migration patterns of PFAS contamination in groundwater. Residents in the area will likely see drilling rigs working near area roadways.
These investigations are part of the PFAS Affected Property Assessment investigation,required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Permit and Compliance Plan issued to the Air Force by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality…”