Nearly 20 military bases in New York have been putting off cleanup of toxic PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, for years, spanning sites from the Finger Lakes to Hudson Valley, according to a new USA TODAY Network analysis of military records.
The latest round of delays, which the Pentagon posted in May and includes hundreds of military bases across the country, has pushed some deadlines out decades, or removed them altogether, as estimated cleanup costs increased by millions of dollars.
For decades, the military has extinguished fires using foams containing toxic PFAS. These chemicals can then seep into soil and groundwater, where they persist without breaking down, increasing the chance of certain cancers in people who drink from contaminated wells.
The military did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for an estimate of how many people the delays affect across the country, but the tally could easily total tens of thousands of neighbors considering how many sites have been delayed.
Which military bases in New York delayed PFAS cleanups?
A total of 20 military bases in New York had cleanup delays or cost increases, with several others included in the analysis that lack timelines, according to USA TODAY Network’s analysis. What follows are details about cleanup delays and cost estimate increases for bases in the Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley:
For further details on these and other military bases in New York, check out USA TODAY’s reporting on the analysis at usatoday.com.
How USA TODAY reported on ‘forever chemical’ cleanup delays
A link buried on the Pentagon’s website shows cleanup timelines for more than 700 military installations nationally. USA TODAY has compiled those reports — many of them now deleted — going back to 2021, observing at least 1,000 instances where cleanup times changed over the past five years without a formal announcement.
The latest delays, posted in May, are the most drastic, averaging a decade. USA TODAY has gathered the timeline details in this searchable data dashboard.
USA TODAY’s analysis of the now-unavailable documents shows that from 2021 to 2024, the military delayed cleanup timelines for a few dozen sites each quarter, usually by just a year or two. Timelines at a handful of sites would even speed up, also typically by a year or so.
Delays suddenly began to pile up in March 2025, when the Pentagon delayed more than 150 sites at once. The newest records released, representing cleanup timelines as of September 2025, delayed the target dates for nearly 200 military sites as much as two decades into the future.
These timelines don’t even represent when each base’s neighbors can expect their property to be safe from forever chemicals.
When cleaning up environmental contamination, the military follows the multistep Superfund program laid out by Congress. The timelines the military has been delaying are largely the “remedial investigation” step, which explores how far pollution has spread and how they might repair the damage. The final cleanup can’t even begin until they pass these milestones.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Hidden records reveal drastic delays in NY military PFAS cleanups
Reporting by Austin Fast and David Robinson, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Austin Fast and David Robinson, New York State Team | USA TODAY Network
