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The Army Corps of Engineers told Fort Carson to stop using the foam in 1991, calling it “harmful to the environment.”
In 2000, under pressure from the E.P.A., 3M phased out production of some of the PFAS compounds, announcing that they could “could potentially pose a risk to human health.” Five years later, the E.P.A. declared that another compound was “likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
But the military continued to use firefighting foams containing the chemicals because E.P.A. doesn’t regulate them.
Industry officials have said they are following E.P.A. rules, while the E.P.A. has said it is still exploring regulation.
“You know the Shaggy song, ‘It wasn’t me’?’” one lawyer told me. “It’s like that.”
Then something dramatic happened. (Dramatic in the world of chemical regulation.) Around 2015, the E.P.A. started asking some communities to test their water for two types of PFAS. This was a step toward possible regulation.
Suddenly, military families around the country began learning that they had been drinking water polluted by the very government they were serving. There was fear, outrage and a mad scramble for answers.
The fear, outrage and mad scramble for answers continues. Which is where our story picks up.
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