Senate Democrats Press Hegseth on ‘Forever Chemical’ Cleanup Delays

Two dozen Senate Democrats are demanding answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the Pentagon quietly delayed cleanup timelines for “forever chemical” contamination at military posts around the country, in some cases by years or decades.

The lawmakers’ letter, sent Thursday, follows a report by NOTUS that found the Pentagon significantly pushed back cleanup schedules for the chemicals known as PFAS at nearly 200 sites, and posted the changes online without a public announcement. The revised timelines were published as part of the Defense Department’s cleanup schedule reports for PFAS. Senators led by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Gary Peters (D-Michigan) wrote in the letter to Hegseth that they were “seriously concerned” by the delays and urged the department to reverse them. The group also requested detailed explanations for the schedule changes and asked whether there had been additional delays since the Pentagon’s most recent update.

“Communities around these installations must not be left behind, and remediation work cannot wait,” the lawmakers wrote. “The longer DoD takes to complete such remediation efforts, the greater the risk to public health and the environment in impacted communities.”

The senators said the delays leave service members, military families and neighboring communities exposed to contamination for longer periods.

The 24 senators signing the letter include Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

PFAS are a class of synthetic chemicals used for decades in products from firefighting foam to nonstick cookware. The term is an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Because the chemicals break down slowly in the environment and in the human body, they are often referred to as “forever chemicals.” Studies have linked PFAS compounds to cancers and other health concerns.The Pentagon is one of the nation’s largest sources of PFAS contamination because military installations historically used PFAS-containing firefighting foam for training and emergency response.More than 700 military sites have known or suspected PFAS contamination, and the chemicals have reached the drinking water for surrounding communities in at least 50 documented cases. The Defense Department has defended cleanup delays in the past, saying they can reflect changes in environmental regulations, testing standards and conditions at contaminated sites.

The lawmakers who wrote to Hegseth cited the Pentagon’s latest PFAS cleanup timetable, which shows more than 170 installations experiencing delays. Some installations that had previously been listed as actively conducting remedial investigations were shifted back to the “planned” category, the letter noted. The group questioned several explanations provided by the Pentagon in its revised schedule, including the need for more testing and the prioritization of cleanup resources. Lawmakers asked the department to spell out which installations are getting priority treatment and what criteria officials used to delay work elsewhere.

The senators also accused the Pentagon of obscuring the extent of the delays by posting new schedules only recently, despite dating them Sept. 30, 2025.

The letter seeks more information about interim clean-up measures, risk assessments conducted for the affected communities and whether the Pentagon informed local officials or residents before it implemented the delays.The lawmakers pointed to Fort Riley, Kansas, where they said the updated schedule reflects a 15-year gap between completion of investigative work and a final cleanup decision. The lawmakers asked the Pentagon to justify the lengthy review period.

The lawmakers asked for responses by July 31.

The Pentagon has also quietly pushed back the timelines for additional sites not updated on the most recent cleanup schedule, NOTUS found previously. Given these unpublished delays, it is unclear how many of the 700 contaminated sites are experiencing delays that have not been publicly announced.