U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) is leading a call, joined by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Tom Carper (D-DE), for the Department of Defense (DoD) to improve its engagement with communities affected by current and former military sites’ contamination by PFAS and other toxic substances.

In New Hampshire and across the country, DoD restoration advisory boards and committees are tasked with working with and listening to communities that are undergoing DoD toxic substance cleanup efforts — but too often community members don’t feel like their concerns are heard or acted upon by those groups. Senator Hassan brought Andrea Amico, a PFAS advocate from Portsmouth, to testify in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing last month. Amico discussed how the DoD needs to do a better job working with, and listening to, the affected communities that they serve.

“Impacted communities would like to see improved relationships with local…restoration advisory boards and restoration advisory committees, focused on trust and collaboration. […] One suggestion I would have for [the Department] is to include some impacted community members as part of training, and to give DOD some guidance on how to best work with communities,” Amico said at the hearing.

Following Amico’s testimony, Senator Hassan is now pushing for the DoD to take immediate action to improve its community engagement efforts.

“Clean water is critical for our citizens to lead healthy lives, and it is at the heart of economic development, healthy families, and vibrant communities,” wrote the Senators in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The Senators cited testimony from Amico and additional community leaders and requested that the DoD address these community leaders’ concerns. “We urge you to solicit and incorporate input from community leaders and organizations as the Department improves [restoration advisory boards] and [restoration advisory committees], and to listen to the priorities of those impacted as the Department carries out its statutorily-mandated efforts to keep communities across our nation safe from PFAS,” the Senators wrote.

This push is part of Senator Hassan’s ongoing efforts to address PFAS contamination and ensure that communities in New Hampshire have access to clean and safe drinking water. The bipartisan infrastructure law that Senator Hassan helped negotiate includes meaningful investments to help communities afford critical water infrastructure projects, including an estimated more than $400 million for water infrastructure improvements to New Hampshire, and dedicated funding to address PFAS contamination. The bill also includes a measure authored by Senator Hassan to better ensure that more New Hampshire towns would be eligible for an advanced technology grant program that can be used to remove contaminants, including PFAS, from drinking water.

Newsletter