[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 128 (Friday, July 28, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2018

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                               speech of

                         HON. CAROL SHEA-PORTER

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 27, 2017

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3219) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2018, and for other purposes.

  Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Chair, I represent the First District of New 
Hampshire, which includes Pease Air Guard Base, formerly Pease Air 
Force Base. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I'm 
aware that our military's historic use of perfluorinated chemicals or 
PFCs has not only polluted the groundwater of Pease and the surrounding 
area, but also of bases and their environs nationwide. That's why I'm 
offering this amendment to authorize the Department of Defense to fund 
a nationwide health impact study--which the House-passed NDAA has just 
authorized--to be conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and 
Disease Registry beginning in FY2018. Our service members, veterans, 
and other affected constituents deserve answers about how they and 
their children have been harmed by these chemicals, which are 
classified as emerging contaminants.
  This contamination began in the 1970s, when more than 600 U.S. 
military fire-training sites used a firefighting foam that contained 
PFCs called perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic 
acid (PFOS). Testing conducted by the Department of Defense at many of 
these sites has found PFC groundwater levels that exceed EPA guidelines 
many times over. At Pease, it is 12.5 times higher than the health 
advisory. The Department of Defense has so far spent $200 million 
assessing and remediating the water at many of these sites. The House 
report accompanying the NDAA has extensive language identifying this 
problem and directing the Defense Department to report to the Committee 
on the process and timeline for identifying and resourcing long-term 
remediation on military bases or in the surrounding communities.
  Because of widespread PFC use at sites across the United States, 
contaminated drinking water now poses a nationwide public health 
threat. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), PFOA is 
especially problematic ``because it can stay in the environment and in 
the human body for long periods.'' Many peer-reviewed studies indicate 
health dangers of PFCs, including links to testicular, kidney, and 
thyroid cancer, liver damage, impaired immune system function, 
decreased fertility, and harm to a developing fetus or child. But the 
ACS says ``more research is needed to clarify these findings,'' because 
a comprehensive, long-term study of the health impacts of PFOA and PFOS 
has not yet been conducted.
  That is why I see a clear and pressing need for this study. Our 
service men and women, veterans, and others who have been exposed to 
PFCs deserve answers on both the short-and long-term health impacts of 
these contaminants. Such a study's findings could enable them to take 
proactive measures, such as more frequent cancer screenings, to protect 
their own and their children's health.
  Knowing that groundwater contamination exists and understanding the 
clear danger of long-term health risks, we can begin to remedy past 
mistakes by supporting the launch of this much-needed study on behalf 
of our troops, our veterans, their families, and affected civilians. 
This is a debt we owe our troops and military families, defense 
civilian workers, and others who served on or lived near these bases.
  Please support our amendment to give our military members and 
veterans, their families and children, in and around bases across our 
country, the answers they deserve.

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