“I can’t sell the milk.
The Air Force knew they had contamination.
Home to 86,000 milk cows, it boasts 25 dairies that sell nearly 8 billion pounds of milk around the country.
The Air Force reported its findings to the New Mexico Environment Department, but not to the people living nearby.
When the Air Force finally tested Schaap’s water on Aug. 28, 2018, it was found to be so polluted that the military immediately began delivering bottled water to the family home.
One of Schaap’s wells tested at 12,000 parts per trillion, or171 times the EPA health advisory level of 70 ppt.
“That’s something we really have to be prepared for.” Udall, Heinrich and other New Mexico lawmakers have for months called on the Environmental Protection Agency to develop federal regulations and drinking water standards for PFOS and PFOA, the chemicals that are front and center in the Clovis crisis.
The EPA has failed for 20 years to regulate PFAS or any other new hazardous substance for drinking water, advocates have noted.
The Air Force says it is going above and beyond to address the contamination.
He says he can’t even sell his cows for dog food.