Defense Policy Bill Demands PFAS Cleanup Strategy, Transparency

Legislation laying out congressional priorities for the Department of Defense’s spending would allow the Pentagon to keep buying PFAS-enabled fire fighting foam years longer than lawmakers previously authorized.

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 (S. 1071) demands the military accelerate cleanups occurring nationwide as a result of its decades-long use of the foam, and the measure would require the DOD to publicly release much more information about each site it’s remediating.

The bill would, however, cut authorized funding for all DOD cleanups, including sites contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

The fire fighting foam and ...