Pentagon Denies Pressuring EPA Over Water Cleanup Standards

The Pentagon’s top officials in charge of military installations denied they are interfering with the EPA’s efforts to address a group of ubiquitous perfluorinated chemicals contaminating groundwater.

“There has been tremendous discussion in the media that DoD was trying to drive to a different standard than what EPA was asking for,” Robert McMahon, assistant secretary of Defense for sustainment, said at a May 1 congressional hearing. “I will tell you categorically that DoD has not been.”

McMahon added that the Pentagon supports the numerical threshold that the Environmental Protection Agency set for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) ...