Kelly, Colleagues Demand Answers as Trump Further Delays Toxic Chemical Cleanups at Arizona Military Sites

Trump administration postponed cleanup of toxic PFAS chemicals by 15 years in Tucson, 7 years in Phoenix

PFAS exposure is linked to an array of health problems, including various cancers, reduced immune function, reproductive challenges, birth defects, thyroid issues, and more

Retired Navy captain and Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) joined Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Gary Peters (D-MI), and 21 other Senate Democrats in demanding that the Trump administration answer for its continued unexplained delays of toxic chemical cleanups at military installations nationwide, including decades' long delays for several critical projects in Arizona. At least 700 military sites in the United States are known or suspected to have per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination from Department of Defense (DoD) activities.

"We remain greatly concerned by the staggering delays at some installations, which include over 170 installations with delays ranging from 1 year to over 20 years," the senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. "Communities around these installations must not be left behind, and remediation work cannot wait."

Recently, the DoD quietly updated its timetable for PFAS remediation at military sites across the country. Its new timeline-posted within the last several weeks but dated September 30, 2025-pushed cleanup efforts by over a decade at many installations and even as many as two decades in some cases.

In Tucson, the DoD now projects the remedial investigation for PFAS contamination at Morris Air National Guard Base-upstream of a water treatment plant that has been offline since 2021- won't be complete until 2047, a 15-year delay from its previous 2032 estimate. Kelly has been pushing DoD to act on PFAS cleanup in Tucson since 2021, and he has secured additional funding to allow the plant to reopen in the absence of action by DoD.

In Phoenix, the DoD now projects the remedial investigation for PFAS contamination near Luke Air Force Base, which was previously scheduled to be completed last year, will not be completed until 2032, despite several prominent instances of off-base drinking water exceeding PFAS contamination limits, requiring the Air Force to distribute clean drinking water to West Valley families.

In total, over 170 sites, including sites in Phoenix, Tucson, Sierra Vista, Yuma, and Flagstaff, were affected by this newest round of delays.

This comes just months after DoD initially pushed the PFAS remediation timelines for roughly 150 bases late last year. In November, Kelly, Gillibrand, Peters, and 25 other Senate Democrats sent a letter to Secretary Hegseth demanding that he reverse those delays.

"Furthering our concern is the fact that this most recent set of delays is backdated to September 30, 2025, raising the question of whether the Department has further expanded the breadth and extent of its delays in the previous nine months," the senators wrote in their most recently letter. "The longer DoD takes to complete such remediation efforts, the greater the risk to public health and the environment in impacted communities."

In Arizona, groundwater is a primary or secondary source of drinking water for the entire state, and at a time of prolonged drought and the possibility of reductions in the availability of surface water in future years, PFAS contamination in groundwater can limit the options Arizona communities have to respond to long-term drought conditions.

Kelly, Gillibrand, and Peters were joined on the letter by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Angus King (I-ME), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Alex Padilla (D-CA).

Background:

Earlier this year, Kelly pressed DoD at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing to stop dragging its feet on PFAS cleanup delays threatening Arizona's water supply, including at Morris Air National Guard Base and Luke Air Force Base.

Kelly has worked for years to protect Tucson's water supply from PFAS contamination. In 2022, he helped secure $13.5 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address forever chemicals in drinking water across Arizona. He then secured an additional $33.5 million specifically for a new Tucson drinking water treatment facility to replace the one forced offline by PFAS. Earlier last year, Kelly also reintroduced bipartisan legislation to ensure states can use existing federal funding to address PFAS contamination in private wells in small and rural communities.

Click here to read the full text of the letter.