“THIS IS A DIRECT RESULT OF YOUR FAILURE”: CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN BLASTS PETE HEGSETH, RAISES THE ALARM ON DOD’S DECADES-LONG DELAY OF CRITICAL PFAS CLEANUP AT STEWART AIR[...]

"This is a direct result of your failure": Congressman Pat Ryan Blasts Pete Hegseth, Raises the Alarm on DoD's Decades-Long Delay of Critical PFAS Cleanup at Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point

Ryan successfully fought against adoption of Department of Defense (DoD) proposals to dismantle years of progress in combatting toxic PFAS at U.S. military installations in the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)

Last month, Ryan went further; he demanded that Hegseth's DoD immediately withdraw the proposal and fully recommit to complying with all existing PFAS regulations

Now, Ryan is raising the alarm on how Hegseth's dangerous plans threaten decades of delays in critical PFAS cleanup efforts in the Hudson Valley and demanding Hegseth recommit to following agreed-upon timelines

NEWBURGH, NY - Today, Congressman Pat Ryan - a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Iraq War combat veteran, and the first West Point graduate to represent the Academy in Congress - is demanding accountability from the Department of Defense (DoD), following new reports of expected decades-long delays in critical cleanup of forever chemicals at U.S. military installations, including at Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point.

In a letter, Ryan slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's "failure" to protect Hudson Valley communities plagued by military installation-connected PFAS pollution. Ryan is demanding that DoD immediately restore all existing PFAS remediation efforts and timelines, provide a detailed written briefing within 30 days, and commit publicly and in writing that no further delays will be imposed without written justification citing specific, documented technical or legal necessity.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are toxic "forever chemicals" impacting the health and safety of servicemembers at and around more than 500 U.S. military installations. The PFAS contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base has tainted the drinking water in Newburgh, one of the Hudson Valley's largest cities.

"Every American - especially our kids - deserves to have clean drinking water. For years we've been fighting hard to ensure clean, safe drinking water is available in every Hudson Valley community, including those around Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point. But now, inexplicably, Hegseth's DoD is doing the opposite, blowing up decades of bipartisan progress," said Congressman Pat Ryan. "It's a total failure and abandonment of our community, and they deserve better. I'm fighting hard at every level to deliver the support and resources our communities need - including in this year's NDAA. But we're still facing a public health crisis in the Hudson Valley, and the last thing we need is the progress we've made rolled back. I'll work with anyone to hold polluters accountable and make sure all our families have access to clean water - and I'll fight like hell against anyone who stands in our way."

Ryan's full letter to Secretary Hegseth is included below.

Dear Secretary Hegseth,

I write as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, an Iraq War combat veteran, a West Point graduate, and the Representative for both Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point to demand that the Department of Defense immediately reverse the latest round of PFAS cleanup delays affecting my district. New reporting from the Times Herald-Record and a USA TODAY analysis of DoD's own records reveal that Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point are among more than 20 New York military installations where the Department has quietly pushed back PFAS remediation deadlines. According to DoD's September 2025 PFAS progress data, the Department has now pushed Stewart's cleanup completion to 2047, more than two decades away, and West Point's to 2035. These interminable delays are the result of your failure, as Secretary of Defense, to take PFAS contamination seriously and to care for our servicemembers and their families.

The contamination at Stewart Air National Guard Base poisoned Newburgh's main drinking water source, Lake Washington - a fact the community learned in 2016. For nearly a decade since, the people of Newburgh, one of the largest cities I represent, have been without their primary drinking water source. Families, children, veterans, and servicemembers in the Hudson Valley have lived with the consequences of PFAS contamination caused by DoD's own use of aqueous film-forming foam at Stewart. This is a disaster of the Department's own making and must be fixed immediately.

I have fought on this issue at every level. In the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act, I secured provisions to fund PFAS remedial investigations and force the Department to prioritize cleanup and remediation. When reporting emerged last fall that DoD had quietly delayed cleanup timelines at nearly 140 installations, I joined my House colleagues in a bipartisan letter to you, demanding the Department revert to the December 2024 cleanup timetable. And on June 25, 2026, I sent you a letter demanding the Department withdraw its May 29 legislative proposals to eliminate statutory PFAS reporting requirements - proposals that, if enacted, would have stripped Congress of the very oversight tools needed to hold DoD accountable for exactly the kind of delays we are now seeing at Stewart and West Point. The House Armed Services Committee even rejected your proposals. But now, barely a month later, we have confirmation that the Department is making these cleanups disappear by pushing them so far into the future that communities lose hope and accountability erodes. A 2047 completion date for Stewart and a 2035 date for West Point are unacceptable timelines and abdications of the Department's responsibilities.

Hundreds of military bases have been putting off PFAS cleanup for years, and the Pentagon's latest round of delays, posted quietly in an obscure corner of its website in May, has pushed some deadlines out decades or removed them altogether. Stewart and West Point are now part of that pattern. This is not bureaucratic scheduling. It is DoD choosing, repeatedly and deliberately, to defer a health crisis of its own making onto the communities and institutions it is supposed to protect.

Accordingly, I demand the following:

1. Immediately restore the December 2024 cleanup timetable for Stewart Air National Guard Base and West Point, and provide a written explanation for every timeline revision made at both installations since that timetable was published - including who authorized the decision to push Stewart's completion to 2047.

2. Provide, within 30 days, a detailed written briefing to my office on the specific causes of delay at Stewart and West Point, the revised milestones for each phase of remediation, and a concrete plan to return to the fastest possible cleanup schedule at both installations.

3. Commit publicly and in writing that no further delays will be imposed at Stewart or West Point without advance notification to my office and the affected communities, and without written justification citing specific, documented technical or legal necessity.

4. Comply fully with all existing PFAS reporting, notification, and briefing requirements mandated by current law and directed by the House Armed Services Committee in the FY27 NDAA.

The people of Newburgh have waited a decade. The cadets and families at West Point deserve better. My constituents and the servicemembers who call these installations home are not optional priorities to be deferred when convenient. I will use every tool available to me as a member of the House Armed Services Committee to ensure the Department honors its obligations, and I will not stop until these communities have the clean water and the accountability they are owed.

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