DOD's PFAS cleanup cost estimate has tripled to $9.3 billion since 2022 but the department has no approved remediation technology that actually removes PFAS from soil

The Department of Defense has identified 723 military installations where PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) was used for firefighting training, potentially contaminating soil and groundwater at each site. As of March 2025, preliminary assessments and site inspections have been completed at 703 of these installations, with 586 advancing to the next phase of the CERCLA cleanup process. The estimated future cost for PFAS investigation and cleanup has more than tripled since 2022, reaching $9.3 billion in fiscal year 2025 and beyond, according to a February 2025 GAO report (GAO-25-107401). At Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, groundwater PFAS levels were found at 370 times what federal scientists consider safe, and at Fort Meade in Maryland, monitoring wells near former fire-training areas showed levels as high as 87,000 parts per trillion. The communities surrounding these bases bear the consequences. Residents near Cannon AFB had their private wells contaminated, and the Highland Dairy was forced to euthanize over 3,000 cows. In January 2025, the base was fined $98,780 for failing to report a PFAS spill within the required 24-hour window. Families living near these installations face elevated cancer risk, thyroid disease, and immune suppression, and many cannot sell their homes because contamination disclosure destroys property values. DOD's own cleanup budget increased by only $400 million between 2016 and 2021 while the overall cleanup backlog soared by $3.7 billion — a funding velocity that would take over 50 years to address the current scope. This problem persists because there is no proven, cost-effective technology to remove PFAS from soil at scale. PFAS are called 'forever chemicals' for a reason: the carbon-fluorine bond is one of the strongest in organic chemistry. Current approaches — excavation and landfilling, soil washing, thermal treatment — either move the problem elsewhere or are prohibitively expensive for the acreage involved. The EPA designated PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances in May 2024, which grants enforcement authority but does not create a technology that works. Meanwhile, DOD continues to resist full transparency: the GAO found that DOD needs to provide Congress with more complete cost information, and the department's own cost projections keep growing as the true extent of contamination at each base is revealed through remedial investigation.