EPA Orders U.S. Air Force and Arizona Air National Guard to Treat PFAS

ByPFAS Primer Team

In a rare step, the EPA issued a Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Section 1431 unilateral administrative order to the U.S. Air Force and Arizona Air National Guard requiring them to conduct measures to abate the “actual and potential imminent and substantial threat to the health of persons presented by the presence of [PFAS] in groundwater underlying the Tucson Area Remediation Project (‘TARP’) water well field” that serves as a drinking-water source. The EPA required the submission of a PFAS water treatment plan within 60 days, which is unprecedented for PFAS. The agency previously issued an order for PFAS cleanup at the Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire, but that was before the EPA adopted maximum contaminant levels for six PFAS and designated PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances. The EPA’s action signals its intent to use its authority under the SDWA to order cleanups of PFAS when there is an “imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of persons” and when it believes local authorities have not acted sufficiently.

May 29, 2024 | In the Matter of The United States Air Force and Arizona Air National Guard, No. PWS-AO-2024-10.

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