Peters Urges Department of Defense Inspector General to Conduct Additional Oversight of PFAS Remediation Efforts in Michigan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of the Inspector General calling for additional oversight and a comprehensive report on the department’s efforts to remediate harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and the surrounding communities of Oscoda and Grayling, Michigan.
Peters’ letter follows a 2019 request from U.S. Representative Dan Kildee (MI-08) to examine DoD’s use of PFAS at military sites across the country, as well as how military personnel and civilians living near those sites are affected by PFAS exposure, which the DoD Inspector General detailed in a 2021 report. Peters convened an oversight hearing on that report, where he called for DoD to do more to help clean up contaminated sites.
Since that 2021 report, the Biden Administration announced new, stronger standards to limit exposure to PFAS in drinking water, and DoD has announced additional clean up efforts, including a expansion of remediation strategies developed by the Oscoda community. Given those developments, Peters is calling for the DoD Inspector General to conduct additional reviews and provide new information about DoD’s PFAS cleanup efforts. Representative Kildee is leading the Michigan delegation in a companion letter to further the request.
“PFAS chemicals remain a grave danger to the health of our communities and environment. Residents of Oscoda and Grayling, Michigan, continue to cope with exposure from toxic PFAS chemicals stemming from the decades of extensive use of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) fire suppressant at Wurtsmith and Camp Grayling,” wrote Senator Peters. “While I am pleased that we have been able to increase resources and personnel to remedy these harmful chemicals, I remain concerned for the health and well-being of my constituents in these communities.”
Peters continued: “With the recent progress on developing maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) and viable cleanup methods for PFAS, some Interim Remedial Actions (IRAs) are now underway at Wurtsmith and Camp Grayling. These IRAs are not the final solution, and more work is required to fully address these contaminated sites. Therefore, I request an updated analysis of the DoD’s efforts to address PFAS contamination at current and former military bases across the country that build on questions originally brought to your office’s attention in 2019.”
Peters has worked with communities across Michigan for years on PFAS remediation efforts. In 2022, Peters convened a field hearing in East Lansing with officials from the Department of Defense, Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency. This hearing examined federal efforts and coordination with state and local governments to clean up and prevent contamination from PFAS, and to examine the impacts exposure to these toxic chemicals has had on servicemembers, first responders, families, and other Michiganders. In September 2018, Peters helped convene the first-ever hearing on PFAS contamination in the Senate, which assessed the federal government’s response to PFAS contamination and remediation efforts. In 2022, Peters’ bill to help protect firefighters and emergency responders from PFAS exposure in the line of duty was also signed into law.
Text of the letter is available here.
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