Contaminated Delaware bases threaten environmentally-vulnerable communities | Opinion

Over the past hundred years, the U.S. military's imprudent use and disposal of toxic substances have incurred a costly environmental toll whose consequences are visible to this day. Though largely due to a lack of awareness regarding the long-term risks, countless service members, kin, and civilians living and working on contaminated army bases were exposed to chemical hazards known to cause debilitating afflictions.

Besides the health risks that veterans and military families experience, the military's ongoing contamination issues also contribute to a far more insidious pattern of environmental discrimination. In Delaware, "forever chemicals" emanating from affected army installations were found in the drinking water of surrounding communities, with minorities facing higher toxic exposure risks.

The military's long history of issues with chemical hazards

Serving as perhaps the best-known case of extensive contamination, North Carolina's Camp Lejeune hosted nearly 1 million troops and civilians, as well as military families and workers on its premises from 1953 to 1987. During this time, they were unknowingly exposed to severe health hazards in the form of volatile organic compounds resulting from decaying solvents, degreasers, oil, and various industrial chemicals.

More than 60 different toxic contaminants were uncovered during inspections of the base's grounds in the early 80s, including known carcinogens like trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, vinyl chloride, and benzene. Notably, the use of aqueous film-forming foamin training scenarios and to extinguish difficult fuel blazes also led to vast amounts of per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFAS — being spread across Camp Lejeune.

PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," comprise more than 12,000 artificial compounds that don't degrade naturally due to their resilient molecular structure. While their flame-retardant qualities make several PFAS variants — primarily PFOA and PFOS — optimal choices for fire-extinguishing solutions, prolonged exposure to these compounds has been linked to several forms of cancer, thyroid issues, high cholesterol and reduced vaccine efficiency in children. Moreover, due to their strong chemical bonds, PFAS last longer in the environment and can easily permeate the soil affecting aquifers used for drinking water.

Although Camp Lejeune was listed as a Superfund site in 1989, and continuous cleanup projects have allowed it to remain operational, it's far from a singular case. PFAS have been confirmed at over 700 army bases across the US, with a recent study suggesting that nearly 3,500 active and closed military installations have been affected.

PFAS and environmental racism in Delaware

As a result of discriminatory redlining practices common during the 20th century, land in majority ethnic neighborhoods was significantly undervalued and became a cost-effective solution for situating factories, army bases, traffic routes, landfills, and other pollution hotspots, with no regard for residents' health. The disproportionate toxic exposure risks that vulnerable minority communities experience due to the legacy of systemic prejudice is better known as environmental racism.

While not as extensive as other states, vulnerable communities surrounding Delaware's contaminated army bases have to contend with PFAS resulting from the overuse of AFFF leaking into local drinking water sources. For reference, the EPA established a non-binding 70 parts per trillion health advisory for PFOS and PFOA in 2016.

After a 2006 plane crash required the use of more than 500 gallons of AFFF to prevent a massive fire from erupting at Dover Air Force Base, analysis conducted by the Department of Defense a decade later found PFOS and PFOA concentrations as high as 2.8 million ppt at the site, with more consistent samples around the base registering 290,000 ppt. Similarly, PFOA and PFOS concentrations at New Castle Air National Guard Base in Wilmington registered 18,410 ppt, with additional PFAS compounds like PFHxS also being uncovered — 47,900 ppt.

PFAS from Dover AFB made its way into local groundwater affecting six private wells serving residents beyond the base's perimeter, with reported concentrations ranging between 3,000 and 170,000 ppt. Meanwhile, 10 out of 14 public supply wells near New Castle County Airport had PFAS levels ranging between 630 and 4,500 ppt.

A 2019 exposure assessment conducted by the CDC in New Castle illustrates the higher toxic burden exposed frontline communities experience, with some PFAS in residents' blood samples being 9.8 times higher than the national average. Notably, all of the study's participants had at least one type of PFAS in their blood, and over 60% had measurable levels of all seven PFAS compounds tested for. For vulnerable BIPOC communities in New Castle that already have to deal with the cumulative effects of industrial pollution, PFAS represents only the most recent health hazard contributing to environmental racism's legacy.

Confronting environmental and social injustice

In the U.S., race and ethnicity remain the primary indicators of higher toxic exposure risks, even more than income status, though they frequently overlap. Combating environmental racism's long-lasting effects requires substantive institutional involvement to efficiently regulate health hazards like PFAS and updated legislation to keep polluters accountable.

In 2021, DuPont, Corteva, and Chemours settled to pay $50 million to Delaware for decades of environmental damage caused by the PFAS they released, with an additional $25 million in funding if the companies reach similar agreements with other states. Furthermore, the passing of Delaware's House Bill 8 in October 2021 will require the state to establish maximum contaminant levels for PFAS in drinking water, with the Division of Public Health initially proposing limits of 14 ppt for PFOS and 21 ppt for PFOA.

The National Defense Authorization Act will see AFFF phase out from military use by 2024 and finance PFAS cleanup efforts on affected bases, including Dover AFB and New Castle ANGB. Concurrently, the Biden administration's Justice40 federal plan seeks to direct 40% of future environmental investments towards at-risk communities plagued by prevalent health hazards.

Most promising of all, the EPA has pledged to regulate PFAS federally by 2023 and recently reduced its health advisory for PFOA and PFOS from 70 ppt to a stringently lower 0.004 ppt and 0.02 ppt, respectively. Significantly, if these new advisories become enforceable standards, Delaware's House Bill 8 will require the state to adopt them if they're lower than state-mandated levels.

Jonathan Sharp is the Chief Financial Officer of Environmental Litigation Group PC, a law firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, that specializes in toxic exposure cases that assists individuals injured by toxic chemicals.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Contaminated Delaware bases threaten vulnerable communities