New delays hold up military’s PFAS cleanup. See where on our map.

Families near an Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, have spent 10 years worrying since the city declared a state of emergency from toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating their drinking water.

That base was scheduled to hit an important cleanup milestone this month. Instead, those neighbors will wait decades more.

The Pentagon announced Sept. 2 that it is again delaying cleanup of forever chemicals at hundreds of military sites, including bases whose schedules had already quietly slipped for years or even decades. Altogether, USA TODAY's analysis of newly updated military records found the Pentagon has delayed its cleanup timelines nearly 1,250 times over the past five years.

These schedules are meant to address PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which the military has used for decades in firefighting foams. The chemicals can then leach into groundwater and have been linked to cancer and other health problems.

If you cannot see a graphic, click here.

Until a USA TODAY investigation this summer, the Pentagon had been quietly updating a chart buried behind a link on its website to announce the delays. This approach earned the agency angry letters from dozens of lawmakers for what one senator called “a violation of…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/